Mallorca vs Osasuna Prediction 10 February 2025

🔊 Will Jagoba Arrasate manage to upset the fans of his former club? The final match of the 23rd round of the Spanish La Liga will be the clash between Mallorca and Osasuna at "Iberostar". The main referee is already known: it will be Adrian Cordero Vega. Interestingly, he officiated the meeting between the "reds" and the "islanders" at "El Sadar" in the first round of the current championship. Let's take a look at the preliminary predictions of the bookmakers: victory for the hosts - 1.98, victory for the guests - 4.3.

📊 H2H

Jagoba Arrasate was unable to defeat his former team in the first round of La Liga (0:1). Note that Osasuna has only succeeded once in the last 15 away encounters against Mallorca.

🔴 MALLORCA

The "Vermilions" have lost their last 5 matches in all competitions. Moreover, Jagoba Arrasate's team failed to score in any of those games. The club has dropped to 9th place in the La Liga standings, trailing the European competition zone by 5 points. In the last round, the head coach of the "islanders" tried to achieve success by choosing a 5-3-2 tactical formation, which theoretically should have prevented the creation of open spaces. However, this plan completely failed: the "mattresses" made as many as 17 shots on goal against Mallorca and created 3 big chances. Arrasate is an advocate of straightforward football with a significant number of diagonal passes. The vertical style is justified by the not-so-high skill level of the players. Nevertheless, regular saturation of half-spaces has become one of the main features of the teams led by the Spanish specialist. In the upcoming La Liga round, Manu Morlanes and Antonio Josabed will not be able to provide their assistance (both due to injuries).

🔵 OSASUNA

Vicente Moreno not only did not dismantle Osasuna's system, which Arrasate had been building over several seasons, but also managed to make some interesting modernizations. The "Reds" have started to play much more boldly. Often, the Spanish specialist uses a 4-3-3 tactical formation. However, there is an interesting peculiarity: overloading one flank is mandatory, and there are completely different duties for the full-backs. In the last La Liga round, it was easy to notice how nominal right-back Jesus Areso played. He was "tied" to the sideline but regularly occupied high positions, which allowed for a numerical advantage on the right in attack. Meanwhile, Juan Cruz, playing on the opposite side of the field, not only joined attacks noticeably less often but also regularly formed a line of three central defenders when his team had possession. Thus, in possession, the formation transformed into a 3-4-3 or 3-5-2. Croatian forward Ante Budimir is in excellent form, having scored 15 times in all competitions. Let's not forget that for Vicente Moreno, the upcoming clash is particularly significant: from 2017 to 2020, he managed Mallorca.

⚽️ GOAL PREDICTION

Head-to-head encounters between Mallorca and Osasuna are generally characterized by a "low-scoring" nature. In 5 of the last 6 cases, no more than two goals were scored. Again, note that the "islanders" are experiencing significant problems with converting their chances lately - not a single goal in their last 5 matches. The upcoming encounter will resemble a "chess match," as both coaches are well acquainted with each other's tactical preferences and vulnerabilities. A goal-scoring spectacle is highly unlikely - total under 2.5 goals.

🚩 CORNER PREDICTION

Both clubs prefer to rely on their opponents' strengths and play as the second number. This is reflected in the number of corners earned at their opponents' goals by each team this season: "islanders" - 4, "reds" - 3.9. In head-to-head encounters, the "vermilions" have some superiority: 5 against 4.4. However, in each of the last 5 personal meetings, no more than 10 corner kicks were recorded. Our choice - total corners under 9.5.

📝 MATCH PREDICTION

As mentioned above, we will witness a clash between two fairly similar tactical models. Based on this, team interactions and the head coaches' reactions to on-field "force majeure" come to the forefront. It's hard to expect a high-scoring scenario from the upcoming match, especially considering that traditionally Mallorca and Osasuna do not delight spectators with a flurry of goals. A goalless draw after 90 minutes is quite likely. Key bet - total under 2.5 goals.