Ebro vs Lleida Esportiu
Spanish Copa del Rey
Date: Wednesday, 17 October 2018
Kick-Off at 16:00 UK / 17:00 CET
Venue: Estadio El Carmen (Zaragoza).
This is a huge match for both Ebro and Lleida Esportiu, two Segunda B teams dreaming of a trip to Camp Nou or the Bernabeu in the next round. The way the seeding for this competition works ensures that the winners of this match will face one of Spain’s European participants in the 4th Round, so there will be a big name waiting for the victors.
The two teams know each other pretty well given they both play in the Northeastern section of the Segunda B and indeed they met just last month with Lleida winning 2-1. They are a Catalan club that was only founded in 2011 following the bankruptcy of UE Lleida. They’ve finished between 3rd and 8th in all seven seasons of their existence in the Segunda B and did make the 4th Round of the Copa del Rey back in the 2013/14 season.
Ebro meanwhile are currently the second highest ranked team in Zaragoza but they’d never even featured in the third tier until 2015. This is only the second time they’ve even qualified to enter the Copa del Rey and they are aiming to go one better than their appearance in the 3rd Round back in the 2015/16 season.
The bookies make the visitors the slight favourites here, not a great surprise given they are currently 4th in the league while Ebro sit rock bottom after a slow start. However the gulf in quality isn’t quite as large as that suggests and a pretty even game looks likely. Lleida have been struggling to convert one point into three with 4 of their last 5 matches ending up all square. Indeed all of their last 5 away games have been all square at ninety minutes.
Ebro have a similar problem with a 50% draw ratio in the league this term. Their problem is that the games they haven’t been drawing are ones they’ve lost rather than won and they are still waiting for their first league victory this term. They’ve been better in this competition but they did still need penalties to see off Murcia in the last round and all the signs are that this will be another tight, perhaps cagey cup tie with the prize a big one for the winners.
Overall backing the Draw looks the way to go in the Full-Time result market with both teams specialising in that outcome this season.
Ebro vs Lleida Esportiu: Head-to-head
The head to head stats also favour Lleida Esportiu who won three, drew one and lost one of five matches against Arlequinados so far.
Els Blaus won three and drew one of last four meetings with Ebro.
The two sides have already played each other this season as Lleida Esportiu took a 2-1 victory in early-September at Camp d’Esports de Lleida.
Ebro vs Lleida Esportiu: Prediction
The rock-solid defense is the main characteristics of the side led by Gerard Albadalejo. The team conceded just five goals in seven league matches so far in the season and they come into this having shipped just three in last seven games across competitions.
Ebro have huge troubles with the efficiency in the final third at the start of the campaign. They bagged just two goals in seven league outings. Given they’ll be up against Segunda B’s strongest defense, we have no other option but to back the visitors to keep a clean sheet as the main betting option.
The away win also has a tremendous value at the 2.50 odds, while the more conservative punters will fancy Lleida or draw double chance at 1.35.
