Almería to redeem most recent LaLiga SmartBank results with a win

Even though Almería sit third in the table five and seven points away from the automatic promotion slots to the top flight, the team do not give up with nine Matchdays to go and get one of top two positions back. After their defeat to Rayo Vallecano last Friday, José Gomes stressed that they will give everything until the end to earn automatic promotion, a message seconded by defensive midfielder Samú Costa on behalf of his team-mates.

Almería seek to get back to the VIP zone in the championship after adding just five of the last fifteen points at stake. It is not the best collection considering that the Rojiblancos were in the second place after beating Girona FC in the first days of March. A month later, the situation got a bit more complicated, but there is still enough time to look for a positive response.

Jose Gomes’ squad are working hard for it in a long week, which will come to an end on Sunday at La Romareda Stadium against Real Zaragoza. The next Northern adversaries have got back to old selves since the arrival of their new head coach Juan Ignacio Martínez, a former Rojiblanco. The Almeria squad no longer depend on themselves to achieve automatic promotion, however they know that if they do their homework well, they will have a chance to pull farther. And that would happen in case of a victory in Zaragoza before hosting current leaders Espanyol. The league appointment will be difficult, yet Almería are putting in maximum effort to get to La Romareda feeling confident.

The players trained behind closed doors at the Juegos Mediterraneos Stadium this Thursday, where they prepared for Sunday's fixture. This Friday, the Rojiblancos exercise at their training base, the Anexo. They will have been training at the ‘Mediterraneo’ before travelling to Zaragoza.

Ivanildo and Morlanes are suspended, while Makaridze returns after having served a one-game ban due to accumulation of yellow cards.