Sevilla will begin life after Diego Alonso with a trip to Granada on Tuesday evening, with both teams in desperate need of a boost ahead of the winter break in Spain's top flight.

Alonso was sacked following Sevilla's 3-0 home loss to Getafe on Saturday, while Granada will enter this contest off the back of a damaging 1-0 defeat to fellow strugglers Celta Vigo.

Match preview

Granada boast a record of one win, five draws and 11 losses from their 17 La Liga matches this season, which has left them in 19th position in the table on eight points.

Alexander Medina's side are five points behind 17th-placed Celta, and they suffered a 1-0 loss to the Sky Blues on Friday, with Jorgen Strand Larsen netting the only goal of the contest in the 20th minute.

Granada's only league win of the season came at home to Mallorca at the end of August, and they are facing the possibility of dropping straight back into the Segunda Division following their promotion last term.

The Andalusian outfit recorded a 1-0 victory over Sevilla in the corresponding match between the two sides last season, while they are unbeaten at home to Tuesday's opponents since August 2018, and it would be fair to say that Sevilla are not in the best place entering this match.

Granada have struggled defensively this season, conceding 37 times, which is the second-worst record in the division behind basement side Almeria, who have still not won a single game this season.

Sevilla, meanwhile, made the decision to sack Alonso as head coach just nine weeks after his appointment following Saturday's 3-0 home defeat to Getafe.

The 48-year-old was introduced as manager on October 10, but he only managed two wins from 14 matches at the helm, suffering seven defeats, and Sevilla are now searching for another head coach.

There is no getting away from the fact that it has been a desperately disappointing campaign for the club, who were knocked out of Europe altogether courtesy of their 2-1 loss to Lens in the Champions League last week.

Los Nervionenses have picked up just one point from their last four league matches, meanwhile, which has left them in 16th position in the table on 13 points, level with 18th-placed Cadiz.

Sevilla have won just twice in La Liga this season, and they are facing the possibility of being relegated from Spain's top flight for the first time since the 1999-2000 campaign.

Team News

Granada will again be missing goalkeeper Raul Fernandez due to a muscular problem, while on-loan Real Madrid defender Jesus Vallejo is still struggling with a hamstring issue.

The home side do not have any fresh injury problems, though, and it would not be a surprise to see the same side that took to the field for the first whistle against Celta.

Bryan Zaragoza is heading for Bayern Munich this summer, but the Spaniard will remain a key player for Granada for the rest of the season, while Lucas Boye is again certain to lead the line, having come up with three goals in Spain's top flight this term.

Sevilla have a crisis at the moment in terms of availability, with Joan Jordan, Dodi Lukebakio, Fernando, Marcos Acuna, Tanguy Kouassi, Mariano Diaz, Jesus Navas, Loic Bade, Erik Lamela, Orjan Nyland and Alfonso Pastor all out.

A switch to a back four is likely to occur, allowing Suso to come into a forward position, but there are not expected to be wholesale changes from Saturday due to the amount of players unavailable.

Lucas Ocampos and Youssef En-Nesyri should retain their spots in the final third of the field, while Ivan Rakitic and Sergio Ramos's experience will again be required.

Granada possible starting lineup:
Ferreira; Sanchez, Miquel, Torrente, Neva; Gumbau, Ruiz; Uzuni, Villar, Zaragoza; Boye

Sevilla possible starting lineup:
Dmitrovic; Juanlu, Gudelj, Ramos, Pedrosa; Sow, Soumare, Rakitic; Ocampos, En-Nesyri, Suso

We say: Granada 1-1 Sevilla

This is such a difficult match to call, as both sides have had very tough campaigns to date. Sevilla are in crisis mode, but Granada have only won once in the league this season, so it is difficult to back them, which has led to us predicting a low-scoring draw on Tuesday night.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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