Levante vs Valencia Prediction - Who Will Win The Comunidad Valenciana Derby?

Next Saturday, Levante will measure forces with Valencia at Estadi Ciutat de Valencia for round 37 of Liga BBVA on what will certainly be a very intense and close derby between two old time rivals of the Spanish football.

Last weekend, Levante “shocked” pundits after defeating the league leaders of Atlético Madrid at home, stealing them three points that might be crucial in their battle for Liga BBVA’s title. Levante’s Costa Rican goalkeeper (Keylor Navas) put up a vintage performance and he was one of the main culprits behind the Colchoneros lack of goals last Sunday. Los Granotes, who have been fairly inconsistent this season, played with high intensity and took Atlético by surprise, especially since the team was certainly still savouring their midweek win against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Next weekend’s match will also be a very complicated one, between two sides only separated by one point at the league table.

For the match against Valencia, Levante will need to replicate their last Sunday’s display and the team’s manager Joaquin Caparrós will quite probably have all the players at his disposal.

As for Valencia, the team managed to bounce back by drawing 2-2 at Santiago Bernabéu after the major setback they suffered last Thursday on the match against Sevilla. Los Che won the midweek match 3-1, but because of the goal they conceded at home, they failed to reach the finals of the UEFA Europa League this season. It was a frustrating outcome for Juan Antonio Pizzi’s side; nevertheless, judging by their display against Real Madrid last Sunday, they have already “forgotten” about Sevilla’s upset.  At the end of the Bernabéu’s match, the Argentinean manager highlighted his players’ brave attitude and expressed his satisfaction with the effort the entire squad put into their work since he arrived at the club last December.

For the clash against Levante, Juan Pizzi will probably still not able to count on the Spanish Youth international Oriol Romeu and with the Swiss defender Senderos, who are currently sidelined due to injury.

When both sides met at the Mestalla back in January, Los Che won 2-0 thanks to goals from Pablo Piatti and Sofiane Feghouli, scored during the first half of the match. Next Saturday’s derby will be a very close match for sure; notwithstanding, Valencia currently looks a more cohese team and they are probably favourites to win the match.

Levante

Stats: W-10 L-13 D-12

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Valencia

Stats: W-12 L-14 D-9

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Possible Line-ups

Levante (4-2-3-1) – K.Navas - Vyntra - D. Navarro - Juanfran - Adoua - Simao - Diop - Sissoko - Casadesús - Xumetra - Barral

Valencia (4-4-2) - D. Alves - Barragán - Mathieu - Ricardo Costa - Bernat - Keita - Javi Fuego - Vargas - Parejo - Feghouli - P. Alcácer

Prediction

Levante 1 Valencia 2