- 1 Racing Santander vs Deportivo Alaves: surprise La Liga contenders head to El Sardinero
- 2 Racing Santander: a promoted side that scores at home but leaks everywhere
- 3 Deportivo Alaves: the league’s best defence, but a brutal week on the treatment table
- 4 La Liga prediction Racing Santander vs Deportivo Alaves
- 5 First, a word on our free picks
- 6 No commitment from us
- 7 Information changes
- 8 Your responsibility
- 9 Responsible gambling first
- 10 Legal age
- 11 About the images…
Racing Santander vs Deportivo Alaves: surprise La Liga contenders head to El Sardinero 
Alaves sit second in La Liga with 10 points from four games. Three wins, one draw, 10 goals scored and just three conceded – not bad for a side nobody fancied to be anywhere near this pace.
Racing Santander have four points and sit 13th. The Campos de Sport de El Sardinero host this fifth-round clash on Saturday 12 September at 14:00, Spanish and UK time.
Both clubs arrive in different moods, but with one thing in common: they can score. Seven goals for the Cantabrians, 10 for the Basques, and neither side has gone blank in recent home or away outings.
Alaves come in off a statement win at Mendizorroza: a 5-2 hammering of Osasuna on 6 September, with a Lucas Boye hat-trick, a goal from Mariano Diaz and a late strike by Pablo Ibanez. It was the kind of display that underlined Quique Sanchez’s side have real substance.
Racing are fresh from a 3-2 defeat at Butarque against Rayo Vallecano, despite goals from Sergio Canales and Pablo Garcia. The promoted side led twice before folding to a Sergio Camello double.
There is, though, a serious blow on the Basque side. Two players in the squad suffered ACL tears in the space of a week. That kind of damage hits depth, not just the starting XI.
One stat splits the teams neatly: 24 successful crosses for Alaves through four matches, only six for Racing. The final ball is on a different level.
El Sardinero is set for 25 degrees and a moderate breeze at kick-off. Neutral conditions, and nothing to suggest either side gets an obvious edge from the weather.
Racing Santander: a promoted side that scores at home but leaks everywhere 
Four points from four matches, one win, one draw and two defeats. Seven goals scored and eight conceded – the numbers are steady enough for a newly promoted side finding its feet in the top flight.
The standout result came on 28 August: a 3-2 win over Elche, where Yassir Zabiri hit a hat-trick in 36 minutes. The Moroccan has three goals in four games, the best return in the squad.
El Sardinero is Racing’s real weapon under Jose Alberto Lopez. Five goals scored and four conceded in home matches, from 30 attempts and nine on target.
Sergio Canales adds the kind of experience promoted sides usually lack, and he opened the scoring at Butarque after just four minutes. Pablo Garcia has chipped in too, with two goals since the start of the season.
The issue is the volume of shots they give up: 58 in four games, 25 of them on target. Against an attack that has hit 20 shots on target from 54, that gap can bite.
Two absences are worth noting. Andres Martin has been out since 28 August with a knee sprain and won’t be back before mid-October, while Simon Eriksson is a doubt after shoulder tendinopathy was spotted on 8 September.
The Cantabrians have won two penalties so far this season, Alaves none. That could matter in a game where space is likely to be at a premium.
The bigger issue is accuracy: six successful crosses from 45 attempts in four games. Racing are getting bodies into the box, just not finding many heads.
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Deportivo Alaves: the league’s best defence, but a brutal week on the treatment table 
Three wins and a draw from four games, 10 goals scored and three conceded. Alaves have the best goal difference in the division outside Barcelona.
Lucas Boye has been the man of the moment with four goals in three appearances, including that hat-trick against Osasuna. Mariano Diaz has three, which gives the Basques two forwards in the top 10 scorers.
The attack has been backed up by serious defensive steel. The 1-0 win over Villarreal on 28 August, sealed by Boye in the 31st minute, already showed this side can shut a game down once they get in front.
The numbers back that up too: 24 successful crosses in four games, compared with Racing’s six in the same stretch. Alaves are finding targets in the box while others are wasting possession.
Away form is still a small sample, with one goal scored and one conceded in their only trip from Mendizorroza so far. There is no clear verdict on that yet.
What has been clear this week is the medical room has gone into overdrive. Facundo Garces and Mikel Rodriguez both suffered ACL tears, on 8 and 3 September respectively, and are out until April, while Toni Martinez is available again after recovering from a soleus strain.
Their defensive record is one of the best in the division: three goals conceded in four games, from 40 shots allowed and just 16 on target. Quique Sanchez has built a side that is hard to break down.
The big question is at centre-back. Losing two players to ACL injuries in a week forces a reshuffle in a unit that had been the bedrock of the team.
Probable Racing Santander line-up: Not available at time of publication.
Probable Deportivo Alaves line-up: Not available at time of publication.
La Liga prediction Racing Santander vs Deportivo Alaves
Our pick: Both teams to score
Racing have scored in both of their home matches this season, with five goals in total at El Sardinero. Zabiri and Canales give the promoted side a cutting edge that most teams near the bottom just do not have.
Alaves, meanwhile, have scored in all four games, with 10 goals on the board and two forwards on four and three respectively. Racing have also allowed 25 shots on target in four matches, and that sort of pressure usually gets punished sooner or later.
The call is straightforward: both teams to score. Back goals at both ends.
One last point in favour of the bet: Racing have scored in three of four and Alaves in all four. Both attacks are finding gaps with real consistency.
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