Preview: Mallorca v Deportivo

Real Mallorca will face Deportivo La Coruña in the ONO Estadi and it will the clash of two teams who are separated by one position in the league table and who share the same amount of points.

Mallorca v Deportivo de la Coruna

Venue: ONO Estadi,Mallorca

Referee: Fernández Borbalán

La Liga Record s: 8 wins for Depor, 11 draws, 8 wins for Mallorca

La Liga Records at ONO Estadi: 3 wins for Depor, 4 draws, 6 wins for Mallorca

Mallorca and Deportivo are level on points in La Liga ahead of Saturday's match. A close match is to be expected at the ONO Estadi with both teams wanting to secure a positive result.

Recent Form

Mallorca lost their last match against Espanyol and Deportivo secured a 1-0 win against league leaders Real Madrid.

Deportivo has enjoyed an unbeaten run of 4 matches recently against top notch teams including Sevilla and Real Madrid

Mallorca on the other hand had a run of 9 matches unbeaten right before the defeat against Espanyol.Though they were enjoying the run, they could only win two matches out of the nine, drawing the remaining seven.

Past Meeting

Mallorca secured a draw at the Riazor when they met earlier this season. Deportivo was not in their best form when they conceded an early goal from Daniel Guiza. Andres Guardado scored from the spot to equalise the score for Depor.

Team News

The Barralets are strong in attack and have proved that when they thrashed Recreativo 7-1 at home. They currently find themselves in 12th position and will have to try hard and find a result in this match to secure a respectable mid-table finish.

Manzano have some good attacking players in Varela, Ibagaza,Guiza and former Real Madrid man Borja Valero. Manzano's men are not easy to beat and the twelve draws in twenty-five matches proves this.

The Mallorca boss is more likely to play with a 3 men attack with Guiza, Trejo and Valero. The midfield will miss the Greek international Angelos Basinas and the Argentine Ariel Ibagaza through suspension. The defence will have to go without Javier Dorado out injured and Ballesteros suspended.

Deportivo boss Lotina has plenty of options with almost all players fit to play except Christian who is out injured. Lotina is a great tactician and he has proved that in the match against Real Madrid last weekend.

He has some players playing in great form especially Lafita who had a brilliant run against the Whites and also Felipe, Wilhelmsson and Coloccini.

Lotina is more likely to start with the same line-up which played against the Madrid side except de Guzman. He had played a 5-4-1 in the Riazor and it seems that he might change the tactics to oppose the central attacking midfileders of Mallorca. Antonio Tomas is likely to replace de Guzman for the Saturday's match

Probable Line-up

Mallorca :: Moyá - Héctor, Ramis, Nunes, Fernando Navarro - Jonás Gutierrez, Scaloni, Borja Valero, Varela - Arango, Güiza

Deportivo :: Aouate - Manuel Pablo, Coloccini, Pablo Amo, Lopo, Filipe - Sergio, Antonio Tomás - Willhelmsson, Lafita - Xisco.

Eyefootball Prediction

Mallorca 1 - 0 Deportivo

Scorer : Guiza

Though Deportivo defence did not break against Real Madrid, Mallorca's attacking ability and their fight to secure a better position in the league will favour them in this clash.