Lively Levante can bounce back to winning ways

La Liga
7pm Thursday

Levante have a point to prove after losing 6-2 at home to Sevilla on Sunday and they look good value to respond with an away victory against second-bottom Valladolid, who are still searching for their first win since gaining promotion last term.

Any team who concede six goals at home need to assess the situation and try to rectify what has gone wrong.

But Levante would be wrong to draw rash conclusions after one game because they have made substantial progress since appointing Paco Lopez as head coach in March.

When Lopez took over Levante were just one point above the drop zone, having won three of 27 league matches. He led them to eight victories in the last 11 games, including a stunning 5-4 victory at home to Barcelona.

Lopez's first full season in charge has not begun anywhere near as smoothly, although Levante showed their potential with a 3-0 success at Betis in their opening game.

Since then they have taken one point from a possible 12, including the collapse against Sevilla when they shipped all six goals in a crazy 50-minute spell.

However, the match was not as one-sided as the result suggests with Levante missing a penalty (they trailed 2-1 at the time) and winning the shots-on-target count 11 to nine.

Lopez will aim to tighten up and his defence should be far less vulnerable against Valladolid, who have failed to score in four of five matches this season.

Valladolid ended their goalscoring drought with a 3-3 draw at Celta Vigo on Saturday, coming from 3-1 down to secure the point, but it is a worry that they still haven't chalked up a victory.

The onus is on the home side to push for the win but Levante are a threat on the counter-attack and look a decent bet at odds-against with the draw no bet.

Recommendation
Levante draw no bet
1pt 13-8 Betfair, Paddy Power

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