Valencia vs Real Sociedad preview - Parejo focused on Sociedad

Posted Saturday, February 28, 2015 by PA

Valencia captain Dani Parejo promised his side would not be concentrating on anything other than the task in hand when they welcome Real Sociedad to the Mestalla on Sunday.

Los Che headed into the weekend in fourth place in the Primera Division standings - just three adrift of champions Atletico Madrid in the final automatic Champions League berth.

Nuno's side visit the Vicente Calderon next weekend, but first up they must deal with the visit of David Moyes' mid-table Sociedad - and Parejo is not looking any further ahead than that just now.

"Whenever you set your objectives high, it is good for us as players and for the team," he said at a press conference, in quotes reported on club website www.valenciacf.com.

"People trust that we can reach our goals with the way we are playing.

"We have to go game by game. On Sunday we have a difficult game against tough opponents, so we are not focusing on anything else.

"They have great players and can beat anyone. Whenever they have come here they have taken a good result away, but this year is different; we come into this game with different dynamics and we are playing at home, where the fans have been amazing."

On a personal note, Parejo could potentially be distracted by talk of where he may ply his trade after his contract expires in summer 2016, but he insists that topic too is far from on his agenda.

"I am happy, very comfortable and very pleased to be here," the 25-year-old said. "It is an issue that I stay away from as we have three months of the season to go and I don't want to lose focus. The best is yet to come."

Sociedad coach David Moyes knows his 10th-placed side will have their work cut out against Nuno's men, but travel to the Mestalla buoyed by last Sunday's 4-3 win over Valencia's fellow Champions League contenders Sevilla.

The players will be further boosted by the memory of a 2-1 triumph in the corresponding fixture last term.

"It's always good to know you've gone before and won at a stadium - it gives you confidence and belief that you can do it," Moyes said at his pre-match press conference, shown on club website www.realsociedad.com.

"But I think we all understand Valencia are a very good team. They've got a very good record at the moment - won (five) in a row at home, very strong - but we'll go there and use the confidence gained from the win against Sevilla. And also, if you look at the record from recent seasons, we'll go there and try to come back with a good result."

Moyes will be without the services of forward Carlos Vela, midfielder David Zurutuza and defenders Carlos Martinez and Mikel Gonzalez through injury, while Valencia striker Paco Alcacer remains troubled by a knee problem.