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Sporting Gijon host Malaga at El Molinon on Sunday in the Segunda Division, looking to bounce back from their first league defeat of the season.
Los Rojiblancos saw their unbeaten start to the 2021-22 campaign come to a halt after a shock 3-2 loss to Eibar last weekend.
A pulsating encounter, which saw Gijon equalize twice in the match, ended with a 76th-minute strike from Gustavo Blanco Leschuk for the hosts.
David Gallego's side will be hoping to mount an immediate response and get themselves up and running again.
Malaga aren't the most intimidating opposition right now, as the southern outfit were battered 4-0 by Ponferradina in their last outing.
With just two wins from six games so far, Los Blanquiazules are languishing below mid-table in 11th place, having scored only five goals.
Sporting Gijon vs Malaga Head-To-Head
Malaga have won exactly half of their 22 clashes with Sporting Gijon, who've beaten them only five times before.
Last season, the side who played at home in both league clashes won 1-0.
Sporting Gijon Form Guide (all competitions): D-W-W-W-L
Malaga Form Guide (all competitions): D-W-L-W-L
Sporting Gijon vs Malaga Team News
Sporting Gijon
The Rojiblancos are free of injuries and have a whole squad at their disposal.
Despite the loss to Eibar in their last outing, manager David Gallego might not make too many changes to his lineup from that match.
Injured: None
Suspended: None
Unavailable: None
Malaga
Much like their northern rivals, Malaga have an injury-free squad and manager Jose Alberto Lopez has all his key players available for the clash.
There's one exception though. Haitam Abaida, who was sent off after coming on in the second half of their 4-0 rout at the hands of Ponferradina, will serve his suspension.
Injured: None
Suspended: Haitam Abaida
Unavailable: None
Sporting Gijon vs Malaga Predicted XI
Sporting Gijon (4-2-3-1): Diego Marino; Guille Rosas, Jean-Sylvain Babin, Marc Valiente, Vasyl Kravets; Jose Gragera, Pedro Diaz; Aitor Garcia, Fran Villalba, Gaspar Campos; Uros Durdevic.
Malaga (4-4-2): Dani Martin; Victor Gomez, Mathieu Peybernes, Juande, Braian Cufre; Paulino de la Fuente, Alberto Escassi, Jozabed, Kevin, Brandon Thomas, Roberto Fernandez.
Sporting Gijon vs Malaga Prediction
Malaga are capable of scoring at least one goal against Gijon, but that may not be enough.
The home side have started the season brightly and have some good options in attack who can take down the Sky Blues. We expect Sporting Gijon to secure a narrow win.
Prediction: Sporting Gijon 2-1 Malaga
