Real Sociedad will be bidding to return to winning ways when they resume their La Liga campaign at home to Mallorca on Saturday afternoon.

The Basque outfit, who are sixth in the table, suffered a 2-1 defeat to Atletico Madrid before the international break, while 15th-placed Mallorca played out a 1-1 draw with Valencia in their last match.

Match preview

Real Sociedad have won four, drawn three and lost two of their nine La Liga matches this season to collect 15 points, which has left them in sixth position in the table heading into the next set of fixtures.

Imanol Alguacil's side actually won four straight matches, three of which were in La Liga, between September 24 and October 3, but they suffered a 2-1 defeat to Atletico before the international break.

The two teams looked to be heading for a 1-1 draw, with Mikel Oyarzabal cancelling out an opener from Samuel Lino, but an 89th-minute penalty from Antoine Griezmann decided the match, with Real Sociedad losing for the second time in Spain's top flight this season.

La Real, who finished fourth in La Liga last season, have made a strong start to their Champions League section, picking up four points from two matches, which has left them last the top of Group D ahead of last season's finalists Inter Milan.

Real Sociedad face a trip to Benfica in Europe next week, but their focus for the moment will be on La Liga, with the team bidding to extend their unbeaten run against Mallorca in the league to eight matches.

Mallorca's last top-flight success over Real Sociedad came in September 2012, but the points were shared in a 1-1 draw when the two teams last locked horns in March of this year.

The Pirates finished ninth in Spain's top flight last season, but they have found it difficult to get going thus far in 2023-24, picking up eight points from nine matches to sit down in 15th position in the table.

Mallorca are not losing many, just three of their nine matches, but they have drawn a league-high five times, recording just one victory in the process, which came away to Celta Vigo in the middle of September.

Javier Aguirre's side have drawn their last three against Barcelona, Rayo Vallecano and Valencia, and the Palma-based outfit will certainly progress up the table if they can find a way to translate some of their draws into victories.

Mallorca have conceded 15 times in the league this season, but they have netted 12 goals, with Vedat Muriqi and Abdon Prats registering four each in the opening two months of the campaign.

Team News

Real Sociedad remain without the services of three first-team players, with Kieran Tierney, Martin Merquelanz and Mohamed Ali Cho on the sidelines through injury.

Head coach Alguacil still has plenty of options for change, especially in the forward areas, with Andre Silva, Umar Sadiq, Carlos Fernandez and Arsen Zakharyan all pushing for starting roles.

Oyarzabal impressed as a centre-forward against Atletico last time out, though, and it seems likely that the Spaniard will continue in that position here, with Takefusa Kubo and Ander Barrenetxea playing in the wide areas.

As for Mallorca, Sergi Darder will be absent due to the muscular problem that forced him off the field during the contest with Valencia before the international break.

Pablo Maffeo and Antonio Raillo are also still out, but Prats is fit despite his relatively early withdrawal against Los Che.

Manu Morlanes is expected to be the player to benefit from Darder's absence to start in the middle, but it might otherwise be the same side that featured from the first whistle last time out, with Dani Rodriguez and Antonio Sanchez operating in the wide positions.

Real Sociedad possible starting lineup:
Remiro; Traore, Zubeldia, Le Normand, Munoz; Mendez, Zubimendi, Merino; Kubo, Oyarzabal, Barrenetxea

Mallorca possible starting lineup:
Rajkovic; Gonzalez, Valjent, Nastasic, Lato; Sanchez, Costa, Morales, D Rodriguez; Prats, Muriqi

We say: Real Sociedad 1-0 Mallorca

Despite their difficulties in terms of winning matches this season, Mallorca have proved difficult to beat, and this will not be a straightforward match for Real Sociedad. Nevertheless, we are expecting the home side to navigate their way to an important three points in Saturday's fixture.

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

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