After finally fulfilling football’s worst kept secret over the summer with the signing of star forward Kylian Mbappé, from PSG, many would have been expecting Real Madrid to instantly becomean even more formidable outfit.
By Nathan Evans
Instead, the reigning LaLiga champions have found the going tough and even though they remain unbeaten across their opening four domestic matchdays, their supporters would have been hoping for much more.
Disappointing 1-1 draws with both Mallorca and Las Palmas have hamstrung their tally to this point, and as such, Real have picked up their lowest points haul through the opening four matches of a season since 2019/20. With both of those stalemates coming on the road too, confidence won’t exactly be flowing ahead of this latest away day – one that takes them to Real Sociedad, arguably much tougher opponents, as they look to hunt down rivals Barcelona at the top of the standings.
Despite that, the recent head-to-head form between these two sides in LaLiga still points towards likely success for Carlo Ancelotti and his side, as Madrid have lost just three of their last 17 away games against Real Sociedad in a run dating back to 2004. They’ve also enjoyed playing in this part of Spain of late, winning each of their last three away league games against Basque sides without conceding a goal in the process.
There’s also the additional boost that the side from San Sebastián have hardly started their own league campaign on a strong footing. Saturday’s hosts limped into the first international break of the new season by drawing 0-0 with Getafe, a result which made it just one win from their opening four games.
In that run of games, both of their home matches have ended in 2-1 defeats against Rayo Vallecano and Alavés – both sides with much less quality at their disposal than Madrid. Consequently, the home faithful at the Anoeta will likely be concerned ahead of this weekend’s fixture.
They’ll therefore have their collective fingers crossed that the aforementioned Mbappé forgets his shooting boots again for this match. No player in LaLiga, to this point, has underperformed their xG as much as the French international, though you’d still have to be a bit daft to not back him in potentially sending Real Sociedad crashing to a fourth consecutive home league defeat for the first time since 2007.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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