Real Sociedad boss David Moyes has admitted that his team are suffering without Mexican forward Carlos Vela.
The former Arsenal attacker has been on the sidelines since early last month with a knee problem.
During that period, Sociedad have struggled for goals and Moyes has conceded that Vela is a big miss for the Basque outfit.
"We are missing Carlos Vela in games like this, where we need to finish teams off, but I don't think we'll have any trouble staying up this season and will start to climb the table if we can finally win away from home," Moyes told reporters following Sunday's 1-0 win over Espanyol.
Vela is not expected to return to action until the middle of next month.
