Real Sociedad captain Xabi Prieto has paid tribute to the form of Imanol Agirretxe, who has scored nine La Liga goals this season.

Only Barcelona pair Neymar and Luis Suarez have scored more times than Agirretxe in Spain's top flight this season, with Cristiano Ronaldo also trailing the 28-year-old in the goal stakes.

Prieto and Agirretxe were both on the scoresheet in Sociedad's 2-0 win over Sevilla at the weekend, and the former has claimed that the in-form striker could hit 20 goals this season.

"Obviously I want to try and score and I have to contribute more, but fortunately Imanol is on a roll," Prieto told Marca.

"He can score 20 goals this season. He has nine in 12 and I think he can do it. We'll try to help him and to help score points, but others will try to score too and take some responsibility."

Agirretxe's best La Liga scoring season was the 2012-13 campaign, when he managed 13 goals in 34 appearances.