Former Rayo Vallecano player and manager Michel will take his high-flying Girona side to Vallecas for Saturday's clash with Francisco's charges.

The visitors have exceeded all expectations this season to establish a two-point lead at the top of the league table, while Rayo head into the weekend in ninth position.

Match preview

Rayo boss Francisco has built upon the foundations left by Andoni Iraola to put the club in European contention after seeing his side collect 18 points from 12 matches.

Since losing 7-0 and 1-0 to Atletico Madrid and Real Betis respectively, Los Franjirrojos have proven to be a tough team to beat, having won three and drawn six of their last nine games across all competitions.

In their most recent outing, Rayo produced a resolute display to hold Real Madrid to a goalless draw at the Santiago Bernabeu, with the result representing their first away point against Los Blancos since March 2000.

After becoming just the second team to stop Real Madrid from scoring in a home league game in 2023, Los Franjirrojos have now kept six clean sheets in their 12 La Liga games - only Carlo Ancelotti's side and Barcelona have recorded the same amount.

Rayo will now turn their attention to another tough game, with Girona set to visit Vallecas on Saturday, but there will be no fear from the home side's perspective, having avoided defeat in their last four head-to-head meetings (W2, D2).

Girona would have been pleased to see Rayo hold Real Madrid to a draw because it ensured that Michel's troops finished matchday 12 as the surprise league leaders following their comeback win over Osasuna on Saturday.

Despite taking the lead through Ivan Martin, an Ante Budimir brace turned the game in Osasuna's favour and left Girona contemplating their second loss of the campaign.

However, Blanquivermells have already shown this season that they can score goals in clusters, and they ultimately repeated the trick in the final 20 minutes at El Sadar, as Artem Dovbyk, Viktor Tsygankov and Aleix Garcia all found the net to guide the Catalan outfit to a 4-2 victory.

Having won 10, drawn one and lost one of their 12 league matches, Girona are looking down at the rest of La Liga with a two-point gap to Real Madrid and a four-point cushion to the reigning champions Barcelona.

The league's highest scorers are one of two teams yet to lose an away league game this season, and they will be determined to maintain that record this weekend, as Michel returns to a club where he made over 300 appearances as a player and spent two years as a manager.

Team News

While Rayo have no fresh injury concerns ahead of the weekend, there is doubt surrounding the availability of Ivan Balliu, who missed the goalless draw with Real Madrid due to a knock.

Even if Balliu is passed fit for the weekend, he may struggle to reclaim his place from Andrei Ratiu after the Romanian right-back produced an impressive display to negate the threat of Vinicius Junior at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Should Francisco decide to give Ratiu the nod, the Rayo boss could select an unchanged starting lineup for Saturday's home clash.

As for Girona, their lengthy injury list includes David Lopez, Borja Garcia, Toni Villa, Jastin Garcia, Joel Roca and Ricard Artero.

After coming off the bench to play a key role in the win over Osasuna, Tsygankov could be presented with his ninth league start of the season.

Tsygankov's Ukrainian teammate Dovbyk will continue to lead the line, and the 26-year-old striker will be looking to add to the six goals that he has scored since arriving from Dnipro-1 in the summer.

Rayo Vallecano possible starting lineup:
Dimitrievski; Ratiu, Mumin, Lejeune, Espino; Ciss, Valentin; Palazon, Lopez, Garcia; De Tomas

Girona possible starting lineup:
Gazzaniga; Martinez, E. Garcia, Blind, Guiterrez; A. Garcia; Tsygankov, Herrera, Martin, Savio; Dovbyk

We say: Rayo Vallecano 2-3 Girona

Girona have won just one of their last eight competitive meetings with Rayo, but while we expect Saturday's contest to be a closely-fought affair, the visitors continue to demonstrate that they have the firepower to beat almost any team in the division, and we believe they will do enough to claim three more points on Saturday.

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