🏏 Fri, 11 Sep 2026 21:00 CEST
Sevilla
vs
Valencia
4-4-2 vs 4-4-1-1
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- Sevilla arrive seventh after four matches with two wins, a draw and a defeat for seven points and a goal difference of plus one. Valencia sit bottom of the table in 20th with a single point from one draw and three losses, and a goal difference of minus eight. With Barcelona setting the pace on 12 points, the hosts need three points to stay attached to the leading group, while the visitors are chasing a first win of the campaign.
- Valencia's attacking numbers are alarming: one goal scored and nine conceded in four league games. They lost 1-0 at home to Real Betis on the opening weekend, drew 0-0 with Celta Vigo, went down 3-1 away at Deportivo La Coruna and were beaten 5-0 at Mestalla by Barcelona in round four. Finding any kind of reliable route to goal is the first job for this side.
- Sevilla began the season well, beating Rayo Vallecano 2-1 and then winning 3-1 away at Athletic Club in round two. The last two rounds have been tougher: a 3-1 home defeat to Atletico Madrid and a 1-1 draw away at Espanyol. With just one win from two matches at home so far, dropping points again in front of their own supporters would be costly.
- Tactically this is a 4-4-2 against a 4-4-1-1, with Javi Guerra tucked in behind Arnaut Danjuma for the visitors. The intriguing detail is Pepelu, a 185cm player whose natural habitat is central midfield and who arrived from rivals Levante, lining up in the middle of the back four alongside the 194cm Cesar Tarrega. It should help Valencia play out from the back, but it leaves Tarrega carrying most of the aerial load.
- Sevilla's midfield four is built around Lucien Agoume, the 24-year-old Frenchman with Inter, Brest, Troyes and Sochaux behind him, screening in front of the defence. Outside him are Felix Correia, the 25-year-old Portuguese left winger with Sporting CP, Manchester City, Juventus and Lille on his CV, and academy graduate Sierra, whose left-footed cut-ins from wide are his calling card against the league's bottom defence.
- Valencia's creative burden falls on two homegrown players. Javi Guerra, 23 and 187cm, is the academy product operating behind the striker whose range of passing has attracted attention from bigger clubs. Alongside him in midfield is David Otorbi, still only 18 after becoming the youngest debutant in the club's history at 16, a quick, direct dribbler. Neither has much mileage, but Valencia's spark has to come from them.
- Arnaut Danjuma leads the line alone. The 29-year-old Netherlands international has Champions League goals to his name and built his reputation in Europe with Villarreal, before spells at Tottenham, Everton, Bournemouth and Girona, with explosive acceleration and a cut-in shooting threat off the flank. In a 4-4-1-1 with only one player high up, how often he can receive facing goal will determine whether a side with one goal in four games finally breaks its duck.
- Both goalkeepers are 32 and vastly experienced. Odysseas Vlachodimos made his name in the Champions League with Benfica and has also played for Panathinaikos, Stuttgart and Nottingham Forest before arriving with the hosts. At the other end Stole Dimitrievski, long-time first choice for North Macedonia, spent years as a regular at Rayo Vallecano and Granada, and is rated for his reflexes and shot-stopping.
- There is genuine quality on both benches. Valencia can call on Hugo Duro, the 26-year-old Getafe academy product and former Real Madrid forward who once top-scored for this club with 13 goals in 2023-24, plus Harvey Elliott, the 23-year-old on loan from Liverpool. Sevilla counter with Nigeria international Chidera Ejuke, who made his name in the Champions League with CSKA Moscow, and La Masia graduate Peque Fernandez.