Sevilla midfielder Vicente Iborra. (Photo : Getty Images)
Third-running squad Sevilla FC (9-3-3, 30 points) is scheduled to take on the challenge of middling team Malaga CF (5-4-6, 21 points) at their home field of Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium on Saturday, Dec. 17 in a 2016-2017 La Liga season match.
Start Time and Streaming Info
The game starts at 2:45 p.m. ET. It can be viewed live online thru FuboTV.
Sevilla has been mercurial as of late, being winless in three of their last six matches. The team would have overtaken defending champions FC Barcelona in the overall standings if they had not lost two games in the last five rounds.
Los Rojiblancos demolished reeling club Celta Vigo, 3-0, in their most recent fixture last Sunday on the road at the Balaídos Stadium, as per the Mirror.
It was a tight game right from the kickoff as both sides were unable to score a single goal in the first half of play.
Head coach Jorge Sampaoli replaced Argentine defender Nicolas Pareja with team captain Vicente Iborra to start the second half and things began to improve for the Sevillistas.
Iborra ended up unleashing a hat trick for Sevilla, scoring in the 51st, 84th, and 90th+2 minutes to snatch the three points away from Celta and give his club a much-needed three points in the standings.
Meanwhile, Malaga is coming off a 1-1 draw with bottom three squad Granada at their home ground of La Rosaleda Stadium last Friday, the Business Standard reported.
Los Boquerones opened the scoring in the 24th minute with a header from the center of the box by Spanish midfielder Ignacio Camacho off a cross by Venezuelan defender Roberto Rosales.
The visitors were able to level the count, though, as Ukrainian forward Artem Kravets buried his own header with nine minutes left before full-time. It was assisted by Spanish forward Alberto Bueno following a set piece situation.
It was the second consecutive drawn match for Malaga and a five straight unbeaten performance for the squad. They are currently in the 11th spot of the league table.
Prediction and Predicted Lineup
The predicted result is a close 2-1 victory for Sevilla.
Sevilla starting lineup (3-4-2-1 formation): Rico; Mercado, Pareja, Rami; Sarabia, N'Zonzi, Nasri, Mariano; Ben Yedder, Vazquez; Vitolo
Malaga starting lineup (4-2-3-1 formation): Boyko; Torres, Villanueva, Rosales, Llorente; Juan Carlos, Juanpi; Fornals, Ontiveros, Camacho; Sandro
