Despite a yellow card suspension for their leading goalscorer for the season (Brais Méndez), Real Sociedad maintained their four-point gap ahead of fourth-placed Real Betis with a comfortable 2-0 win in Almería, ensuring they remain the most likely challengers to runaway leaders Barcelona and Real Madrid. In doing so, they stamped their position as one of Spain’s in-form clubs by completing an unblemished two-month period with six consecutive competitive wins.
The significance of ending Almería’s four-game LL winning streak at home was not lost on manager Imanol Alguacil, who praised “a brilliant defensive job” as part of a performance with “a lot of merits”. When considering that Alguacil has never seen his Sociedad side keep a clean sheet at home to upcoming opponents Athletic Bilbao, despite never losing (W3, D2), the complete performance of a win ‘to nil’ would be most satisfying.
Athletic could have been two points off Sociedad and within striking distance here had they not squandered their opportunities against Real Betis (0-0) and Osasuna (0-0). Considering they could not do what Sociedad did on New Year’s Eve – defeat Osasuna at home – the basic form line also points to them being a rung or two beneath Sociedad in class.
One positive manager Ernesto Valverde could draw from those scoreless draws is an improvement at the back in the absence of injured defender Iñigo Martínez, who has not played since the World Cup, particularly as he candidly admitted he does not “know what will happen” about Martínez’s potential move to Barcelona for 2023/24. Their defending will have to lift even further if they are to come out of this trip and a subsequent home game against Real Madrid unscathed.
Key battle: Alexander Sørloth will be looking for his first goal and win from what will be three meetings with Athletic, after scoring in each of Sociedad’s three consecutive LL wins. He’ll have to get past Athletic defender Yeray Álvarez, whose 29 interceptions (the second most in LL after 16 rounds) has made a major contribution to their three consecutive LL clean sheets.
Hot streak: Sociedad have completed 22 consecutive LL games without a 0-0 draw.
