Leganés and Oviedo: A Six-Pointer

The usual script says a late-season meeting in the Spanish First Division should offer room to breathe; for Leganés and Oviedo, it is a contest with the air nearly gone. They stand 19th and 18th, respectively, with three games left: Leganés are seven points from safety, Oviedo six. Both are in the relegation zone, and neither can afford to treat Sunday’s meeting as anything but urgent.

Leganés have 31 points from 35 games and are unbeaten in two league matches, drawing with Villarreal and Alavés. Oviedo have 32, but Monday’s 4-0 defeat at home to Vallecano was a bruising interruption to a run that had included two wins. Their earlier meeting this season, in December, finished 0-0.

There is a striking gulf between Oviedo’s points and the chances they have created: their 32 points compare with 39.5 expected. Leganés, on 31, are almost exactly level with their expected total of 31.7. For Oviedo, that gap gives the match an extra sting: they need the promise in their play to become points, now.

Leganés are expected to use their familiar 4-2-3-1, but attacking midfielder Sergio Roca is out with a hernia and is expected back about 25 May. Oviedo are also likely to line up 4-2-3-1, without centre-back Iván Queiruga, who has a torn calf muscle. Leganés’ Carlos Gutiérrez has scored twice in his last four games, while Oviedo’s Jesús Ruiz has four goals in his last four. Ruiz’s form offers a flicker of hope; the hosts will look to Martí Iglesias, whose recent performances have been lively. In a fixture this tight, one good moment may matter more than all the old meetings put together.