To finish off game week 18 in Spain, Rayo Vallecano will play hosts to relegation threatened, Córdoba, at the Estadio del Rayo Vallecano.

The home side are coming off of an away victory at Getafe to start the New Year with Jozabed and Raul Baena completing the comeback. This win pushed Los Franjirrojos up near mid-table, level on points with Espanyol. If they can somehow manage to grab all three points once more, then Rayo will jump ahead of Celta de Vigo for the ninth spot in the La Liga table.

For the away side, Córdoba, are in the relegation zone fighting for their lives. Los Bianquiverdes started off 2015 with a huge win though, over relegation rivals Granada to move them closer into safety. But their opponents tonight are a completely different animal. The visitors will have to be at their absolute best if they want to come away with all three points. However, Córdoba pose an extremely leaky defense as they have already let in 27 goals and have one of the worse goal differences in the league.

Rayo Vallecano are going to find it much harder in front of goal as they will be without their 22-year-old Brazilian striker Leo Baptistao will miss the match through injury along with Ze Castro and Cobeno while Emiliano Insua is suspended for this match against Córdoba. Meanwhile, Algerian Nabil Ghilas and Luso are both injured for Córdoba.

This will be a very interesting tactical battle. The middle of the pitch is where the match will be won today. Whoever can control the middle part of the park will maintain possession and they can move the ball about down both flanks. Córdoba’s back line needs to be focused for every single second throughout the entire ninety minutes because Rayo Vallecano are going to pressure them from the get go.

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