Nuno changed tactics after his side's midweek defeat to Espanyol brining in both Alvaro Negredo and Paco Alcacer to lead the lines while switching to a 4-4-2 instead of their normal 4-5-1. However, it was Shkodran Mustafi's bullet header in the 28th minute that was enough to win 1-0 over Granada. 

There was a bit of a scare for Valenica in the fourth minute of play as Juame Domenech caught a free kick but went down in pain for a few seconds. Already down two goal keepers, going down another would be absolutely horrendous but thankfully he recovered and continued to play the rest of the match.

Fran Rico, who is known to have a go from distance every now and then, unleashed a shot from well outside the area only to see the ball go wide of the target in a rather audacious attempt in the 18th minute of the match. After that, Valencia finally started to apply pressure on Granada's back four but the final touch on the ball is lacking as they have yet to be clinical in their movements going forward. 

Valencia's German center back opens the scoring before the half hour mark

Mustafi opened the scoring with a thunderous header after the visitors failed to clear their lines completely. Young Zakaria Bakkali got a second chance to send in a cross and made no mistake this time as he found the head of the German international in the 26th minute after there had been only one or two chances from either side up until that point. 

Right before half time, Granada had a chance to draw level but off of a free kick from Rubén Rochina was saved spectacularly by Juame in the top left corner to keep his side in the lead right before the halftime interval.

Halftime: Valencia 1-0 Granada

At the beginning of the second half, the hosts were gunning for that second goal and Paco Alcacer had a free header at the top of the six yard box go over the top of the goal as he could not control the ball in what could have been a crucial goal in the opening minutes of the second half. 

The visitors nearly pulled level in the 51st minute through Rochina again. His shot from outside of the box was spotted late by Juame who reacted quickly enough to keep the ball up. Then down the other end of the pitch, Valencia thought they had scored a second goal which would have been huge, but the young Spanish international striker was offside when the initial ball was played in towards him.

Granada are getting a handful of set piece opportunities in this second half of play but have yet to make any of them count as Nuno's side have been able to clear each one of them away from danger. Piatti was then involved in the action for the first time since his inclusion as his corner, in the 66th minute, was met by Mustafi but the German's header was hit over the top of the goal. 

José Ramón Sandoval's side who came closest to finding a second goal as Juame mistimed his jump when attempting to clear a corner and Fran Rico attempted an overhead kick but caught Sofaine Feghouli and was given a foul for a dangerous play. 

72 minutes into the match and Enzo Perez tried his luck from outside the area as he saw a bit of space to try a shot. The ball though curved wide of the left post but Andrés Fernández still dove just a precaution as the effort was not too far wide of the post. 

This is a huge win for both Valencia and Nuno as they climb up the table a little bit while getting a little bit more support from the supporters as they had lost faith a little bit with their recent results in both the Champions League and in the league.

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