Sporting de Gijon vs Getafe preview - Gijon chase Getafe win

Posted Sunday, March 06, 2011 by PA

Sporting Gijon will hope the visit of inconsistent Getafe to El Molinon will give them a chance to escape the relegation zone.

Sporting are in the middle of a tough run of fixtures that has seen them play Athletic Bilbao, Barcelona, Valencia, Real Zaragoza and Sevilla in their last five games, while in their next two away matches after this weekend they must go to Villarreal and Real Madrid.

It is a tough time for the Asturian side, who dropped into the bottom three after going down 3-0 at Sevilla on Tuesday, and they will be desperate to pick up something from the home match.

Getafe have had an up-and-down season and, from looking like serious European challengers at the end of 2010, they have lost their way of late and have won just once in 10 league matches so far in 2011.

That has seen Michel's men drop down to 11th spot in the table on 33 points, although they are still only five points off the European places and eight above Sporting and the relegation zone.

Sporting coach Manuel Preciado said of their opponents: "They are a good team, with a lot of quality, although they haven't been overly consistent this season and their objective of getting into Europe is now complicated.

"The visit of Getafe now could be good for us, because they are a team with a coach who likes to play football. This isn't so bad for us, although if they play well they are capable of scoring three goals and then we are dead.

"We are playing at home and we have to all pull together right from the warm-up.

"We must play with a lot of concentration, be very attentive and try to make the most of any advantage we get.

"We need to take advantage of playing at El Molinon. Now there are 12 games left where the points are worth their weight in gold."

Getafe's sole win this year came in a 4-1 triumph over Deportivo La Coruna a month ago, and since then they have drawn three matches and lost at home to Racing Santander.

Getafe's most recent outing saw them held 1-1 at home by local rivals Atletico Madrid, who needed an 82nd-minute equaliser to salvage a draw.

Striker Miku said: "We haven't been able to do what we were doing last year - close out games."