🏏 Tue, 15 Sep 2026 20:00 CEST
Deportivo Alavés
vs
Valencia
3-5-2 vs 4-2-3-1
Substitutes
Substitutes
Match Preview
- This fixture pits the two extremes of the table against each other. Alaves sit fourth on 10 points from three wins, one draw and one defeat, with 11 scored and five conceded for a +6 difference. Valencia are rock bottom in 20th on a single point, having drawn once and lost four, scoring just one goal while shipping 10 for a -9 difference. The hosts want to stay in touch with leaders Barcelona on 15 points; the visitors simply need a first win.
- Everything good about Alaves so far has happened at home. They beat Getafe 3-0 on matchday one, edged Villarreal 1-0 in round three and hammered Osasuna 5-2 in round four - nine of their 11 goals came in those three home wins. On the road it has been thinner: a 1-1 draw at Rayo Vallecano in round two and a 2-1 defeat at Racing Santander in round five. Coming home is exactly what they wanted.
- Valencia arrive on a four-match losing run with a scoring problem that has not eased. They lost 1-0 at home to Real Betis, drew 0-0 with Celta Vigo, went down 3-1 at Deportivo La Coruna, were beaten 5-0 at home by Barcelona and lost 1-0 at Sevilla. Their solitary goal of the campaign came on that trip to Deportivo, so simply finding the net would represent progress.
- Two Alaves starters face the club that shaped them. Toni Martinez, a 29-year-old 187cm target man, came through Valencia before spells at West Ham and Porto and now leads the line with his aerial presence and back-to-goal play. Goalkeeper Sivera, 30, is also a Valencia academy product who arrived via Almeria and has become the first choice here; his composure in possession matters against a side that must press to chase the game.
- Valencia have their own reunion, on the bench. Left-footed winger Luis Rioja, now 32, spent five seasons at Alaves and made 189 LaLiga appearances for them. A direct dribbler who likes to cut inside from the left and deliver from wide areas, he is the sort of substitute who can change the rhythm late on - this time in front of supporters who used to cheer him.
- The shape battle is intriguing. Alaves line up 3-5-2 with a five-man midfield band, while Valencia go 4-2-3-1 with Gaston Rodriguez - a 185cm Uruguayan ball-winner of 32 - and Aaron Mayol screening the back four. On paper that hands the hosts numerical superiority through the middle, so how Valencia attack the space either side of that five becomes the key tactical question.
- Alaves have blended craft and discipline in midfield. Denis Suarez, 30, brings the creativity of a career that took in Barcelona, Arsenal and Manchester City as well as Celta and Villarreal. Antonio Blanco, 26, a Real Madrid Castilla graduate who came through a loan spell at Cadiz, sets the tempo, while 27-year-old Pablo Ibanez - a product of the Osasuna academy in his native Pamplona - does the destructive work in front of the back three.
- Valencia's answer is individual quality up front. Left-footed striker Hugo Duro, 26, came through Getafe and spent time at Real Madrid before establishing himself here, topping the club's scoring charts with 13 goals in 2023-24. Arnaut Danjuma, the 29-year-old Netherlands international whose career has taken in Villarreal, Bournemouth, Tottenham and Everton, starts wide, with 187cm academy graduate Javi Guerra, 23, operating centrally.
- The defensive contrast is stark. Alaves field a back three of 25-year-old Nicolas Valentini, a left-footed centre-back raised at Boca Juniors, Finland international Ville Koski on loan from Istra 1961, and 30-year-old Nahuel Tenaglia of Talleres fame. Valencia counter with 194cm PSV product Justin de Haas, 172cm man-marker Pablo Maffeo from Manchester City's academy and 31-year-old captain Jose Gaya, behind whom North Macedonia's Stole Dimitrievski, formerly of Rayo Vallecano, keeps goal.
- Both benches carry youth with a story. Valencia can introduce 23-year-old Harvey Elliott, on loan from Liverpool and the man who set a Premier League youngest-appearance record while at Fulham, plus 18-year-old David Otorbi, the club's youngest ever debutant at 16. Alaves counter with La Masia graduate Carles Alena, 28, and 33-year-old Marco Diaz, a Champions League winner during his Real Madrid days who also played for Lyon and Sevilla.