Rayo Vallecano vs Real Sociedad Predictions & Match Preview

Rayo Vallecano vs Real Sociedad predictions and match preview for Sunday’s LaLiga fixture. Read on for analysis, the head-to-head, team news and predicted lineups as La Real travel to Vallecas.

Rayo Vallecano vs Real Sociedad Preview

Real Sociedad head to Vallecas on Sunday with the visitors targeting three points to boost their push for European football. Imanol’s men are still in with an outside chance of Champions League qualification but three points here really is essential if they are to be serious about that.

Rayo Vallecano and their fans can relax now and look forward to another top flight season after back-to-back 1-0 wins in the city of Barcelona. Victory at the RCDE Stadium all but clinched safety and was their first of 2022 in LaLiga and it was quickly followed up by a famous triumph at Camp Nou with Alvaro Garcia’s early goal defeating Xavi’s side to move Rayo onto 40 points and up to 11th in the table.

The Madrid side may well have gone on to clinch survival anyway without those victories but they do feel significant in terms of restoring the feel good factor and avoiding a situation where Rayo would have headed into next season on a real downer. It will still be an important summer with some of their star players likely to attract interest, not to mention the coach, but for now Andoni Iraola and his men can look back on this campaign with a real sense of satisfaction.

Real Sociedad meanwhile are more or less where they would have expected to be, fighting for the European places as we head into May. They have become a consistent top six or seven side under Imanol but barring any miracles over the final few weeks, they have again fallen just short in terms of making that leap towards battling it out with the really big clubs.

They simply haven’t offered enough of a goal threat this term to do that. They’ve only managed to net 4 times in their last 6 games and their season tally of 32 is 9 fewer than Levante and 4 less than Granada, two of the current bottom three. It’s a curious case given the talent they possess and the blame should not solely lie on the shoulders of their forwards, however La Real do have the biggest negative differential in LaLiga when it comes to goals scored and xG with their tally for the latter 45.3 (according to understat). That’s the 8th best in the division but it does still suggest they are a bit short on some of the elite sides in terms of creativity, as well as finishing chances.

Head to Head

• Last 6 Competitive Meetings: 3 Real Sociedad Wins, 3 Draws.
• Both teams have scored 2+ goals in each of the last 3 meetings in Madrid.
• The last 2 have ended 2-2 while Real Sociedad won 4-2 here in 2015.
• La Real won the reverse fixture 1-0 earlier this term.

Team News

Latest LaLiga Injuries & Suspensions

Possible Lineups

Rayo Vallecano vs Real Sociedad Predictions

Score Prediction: Rayo Vallecano 1-1 Real Sociedad

This game should be close with Rayo performing more like their early season selves of late and even producing the goods on the road. You do have to go back to 2021 for their last home league win though but their performances suggest they will have enough to do further damage to Real Sociedad’s European ambitions by getting a point.

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