Preview: Las Palmas vs. Almeria - prediction, team news, lineups

With 10 games to go, the visitors remain rooted to the foot of the La Liga table, 14 points adrift of safety, while a slump has seen their hosts drop to ninth spot.

Match preview

Las Palmas return to action at the Estadio Gran Canaria on Sunday with the aim of returning to form, having endured a dip in recent weeks in what has been an impressive campaign back in La Liga.

Following their promotion from Spain's second tier last time around, Los Amarillos have earned 37 points from their first 28 outings, putting themselves in the top half as a result, having earned 10 victories from those games.

The most recent of their victories came at home to Valencia in early February, thanks to late goals from Alex Suarez and Marc Cardona, leaving Garcia Pimienta's side eighth after 24 rounds of matches, but they have been unable to follow that up since, now heading into the weekend in a four-game winless run.

That triumph was firstly followed by a 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Atletico Madrid, and after playing out draws with Osasuna and Getafe, Los Amarillos most recently hosted Athletic Bilbao last Sunday and came away empty-handed, losing 2-0 as Gorka Guruzeta opened the scoring for the visitors and Saul Coco's own goal doubled the deficit around the hour mark.

Having now dropped to ninth spot with just a one-point lead over Osasuna and a two-point lead over 11th-placed Villarreal, Las Palmas will be keen to bounce back to winning ways and kickstart a strong end to the season in their bid to maintain a top-half place on their return to La Liga.

Their visitors, meanwhile, find themselves in an increasingly desperate position at the bottom of the table in the fight for survival, having endured a dismal campaign thus far.

After avoiding relegation by a single point last time around, Almeria have remained rooted to the foot of the La Liga table for the majority of the season, having only collected 10 points from their 28 matches so far.

Indeed, the Rojiblancos are yet to pick up a single win in Spain's top flight across spells under the management of Vicente Moreno, Alberto Lasarte and Gaizka Garitano, having now turned to Pepe Mel this week.

Garitano's tenure was brought to an end on Wednesday, despite a creditable result at the weekend and having drawn four of their last five outings, having most recently followed up a defeat to Celta Vigo with a 2-2 draw at home to Sevilla on Monday, pulling level in the 95th minute through Marko Milovanovic after Adri Embarba's first-half opener.

With Pepe Mel now taking over a side sat on 10 points, four behind 19th-placed Granada and 14 adrift of safety, Almeria will now search for a first league win of the season to keep any faint hopes alive of remaining competitive in the run-in.

Las Palmas La Liga form:

D

W

L

D

D

L

Almeria La Liga form:

L

D

D

D

L

D

Team News

Las Palmas head into the weekend without defender Saul Coco, who will serve a suspension after being shown a fifth yellow card of the season in their defeat to Athletic Bilbao last time out.

In his absence, Alex Suarez should come into the heart of the back four from the outset to partner mainstay Mika Marmol, while Jose Campana will continue to anchor the midfield.

At the top end of the pitch, Marc Cardona will bid to come in from the outset and lead the line after Alberto Moleiro was preferred from the outset last time out, while Munir El Haddadi and Sandro Ramirez will look to cause problems on the wings.

Almeria will remain without key forward Luis Suarez due to an injury issue on Sunday, while fellow attacker Ibrahima Kone is also confined to the treatment room.

Pepe Mel's options for his first game at the helm are limited further by suspensions, with Dion Lopy and Edgar Gonzalez both forced to sit out, although Bruno Langa will return to the fold after serving his own suspension against Sevilla.

Marko Milovanovic will hope to earn a starting spot in attack after netting their leveller off the bench in that triumph, with whichever lone striker is preferred likely having support from the trio of Luka Romero, Adri Embarba and Jonathan Viera, who joined Almeria from Sunday's hosts in January.

Las Palmas possible starting lineup:

Valles; Araujo, Suarez, Marmol, S Cardona; Campana; El Haddadi, Munoz, Rodriguez, Ramirez; M Cardona

Almeria possible starting lineup:

Maximiano; Pubill, Montes, Radovanovic, Langa; Baba, Melero; Romero, Viera, Embarba; Milovanovic

We say: Las Palmas 2-1 Almeria

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