Deportivo Alaves vs Mallorca Preview: Two Sides With Nothing Left to Hide
Saturday's clash at Estadio de Mendizorroza is a relegation six-pointer with nowhere to hide. Connor Maguire gives you his unfiltered read on who wants it more.
Last updated: Saturday 25 April 2026, match day. Right then. This is it. Alaves versus Mallorca. Estadio de Mendizorroza. Two clubs sitting in the bottom three, separated by nothing but goal difference and whatever scraps of belief they have left. If you cannot get yourself up for this one, you should not be a professional footballer. End of.
Where Things Stand
Alaves are bottom. Eighteenth. They have shipped 48 goals and scored 36. That is not a defensive system failing. That is a group of players not doing the basics. You do not concede 48 goals through bad luck. You concede 48 goals because people are not running back, not holding their shape, not competing for second balls. Simple.
Mallorca sit sixteenth. Forty goals scored, 49 conceded. The thing is, those numbers tell you exactly what kind of match this is going to be. Neither of these sides can keep it tight. Neither of them defends with any real conviction. So when people ask me if this will be a cagey affair, I just laugh. These two could not be cagey if you paid them.
Alaves: The Home Advantage That Might Not Mean Anything
Listen, home advantage matters when a crowd gets behind a side that is working hard. If the players at Mendizorroza give the home supporters something to shout about, the atmosphere can shift a game. But if Alaves start the way they have been starting matches this season, that crowd will turn. And a hostile home crowd is worse than no crowd at all.
Alaves have conceded 48 goals this season. That is the number that keeps jumping out at me. It tells you the defensive attitude is wrong. It tells you that somewhere along the line, the standards dropped and nobody inside that dressing room did enough to drag them back up. Accountability has been missing. You can see it in the numbers without needing a single spreadsheet.
The thing is, they have only scored 36. So they are not even entertaining in a chaotic way. They are just leaking goals and not putting enough in at the other end to compensate. That is the worst version of a football club. All the risk, none of the reward.
Mallorca: Slightly Better, Which Is Not Saying Much
Mallorca are sixteenth. Three places and very little else separates these two clubs. They have scored four more goals than Alaves and conceded one more. In any rational reading of those numbers, these are two clubs of almost identical quality. Which means this comes down entirely to desire and attitude on the day.
Forty goals scored is not the output of a side with real cutting edge. But they have shown slightly more willingness to go and get something in matches. Whether that translates to Mendizorroza on a Saturday when the pressure is at its peak, that is the real question.
Listen, Mallorca need points. They are not safe. Sixteenth sounds comfortable until you check who is directly below them and how close it is. A loss here could drag them straight back into the mire. So there should be no relaxed heads in that away dressing room this morning.
What This Match Actually Is
This is a street fight dressed up in football kit. Do not let anyone tell you otherwise. Two sides who cannot defend. Two sides who have not won enough this season. One venue. Three points that could be the difference between staying up and going down.
The team that competes harder wins this. That is my firm view. There is no tactical puzzle here. There is no system that is going to unlock the other side. It is about who wants those three points more in the ninety-third minute when their legs are gone and they have to make one more tackle. I know which type of player I respected. I know which type of player I wanted beside me in those moments.
The thing is, both sets of supporters deserve better than what they have watched this season. But they will take a scruffy 1-0 on a day like today and be entirely happy about it. This is what the bottom end of a table does to you. It strips everything back to the absolute basics.
Connor's Call
I am going Mallorca. Away win. The slight edge in goals scored this season, the fact that they have more to play for in terms of keeping distance from the bottom three, and the sense that Alaves at home have not been a fortress by any stretch of the imagination. Forty-eight goals conceded at Mendizorroza this season. That tells its own story.
I am not backing accumulators. I am not dressing this up. Mallorca to win. Back it or don't. But do not tell me the data says something different. The data says both these clubs have defensive problems. My eyes say Mallorca look slightly more likely to punish one of Alaves' errors than the other way around.
If I am wrong, I will tell you it is because the players did not execute. My logic stands. End of.
Final Word
Saturday 25 April. Estadio de Mendizorroza. Kick-off is close. Whatever lineups are confirmed in the final hour before this one starts, look at the body language of the players during the warm-up. That will tell you more than any formation card. Players who want it look a certain way. Players who are going through the motions look a certain way. I watched the game long enough to know the difference.
Compete. Do the basics. Want it more than the other lot. That is all this comes down to today.
Same-match selections
This is a match between two sides with nearly identical underlying issues this season, both having conceded heavily and struggled with consistent defensive organisation. The combination of Alaves' home advantage, both teams' propensity to concede, and Mallorca's proven attacking output points to a competitive fixture where the hosts edge the result whilst both teams find the back of the net in an open contest.
- 1Match Result
Deportivo Alaves to win
Alaves benefit from home advantage at Estadio de Mendizorroza, where familiarity with the surface and crowd provides organisational structure that a seventeenth-placed side critically needs. The article emphasises that if Alaves' preparation has been sharp, their coaching staff should have identified transition trigger points that have led to their forty-six goals conceded, allowing them to implement a more compact shape with fewer gaps between the lines to neutralise Mallorca's attack.
- 2Over/Under Goals
Over 2.5 Goals
Both clubs have conceded heavily this season, with Alaves on forty-six goals against and Mallorca on forty-eight, pointing to repeated patterns of defensive breakdown rather than lack of effort. When two sides sharing defensive vulnerabilities meet, the match tends to be decided by managing those vulnerabilities carefully on the day, but their attacking capabilities (thirty-five and thirty-nine goals respectively) suggest clear scoring opportunities will emerge for both sides.
- 3Both Teams to Score
Both Teams to Score - Yes
Mallorca's thirty-nine goals scored demonstrates attacking productivity across the season, whilst Alaves' defensive record of forty-six conceded indicates they have been exposed repeatedly in transition. The underlying structure of both clubs shows they have spent the season making similar mistakes, suggesting Mallorca will find opportunities to score even if Alaves tighten their defensive shape at home.
Exact-price policy
Only an operator-authored quote for this exact set of legs can price a Bet Builder. We do not publish multiplied standalone odds as a substitute.
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Related: Form: Deportivo Alaves · Form: Mallorca · Head-to-head: Deportivo Alaves vs Mallorca
Match data, form summaries, and head-to-head records are sourced from integrated football data feeds. Prediction probabilities, where shown, are supplied by Sportmonks and are labelled separately from derived SportSignals comparisons.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where does Deportivo Alaves sit in the La Liga table ahead of this match?
Alaves are bottom of La Liga in eighteenth place. They have scored 36 goals and conceded 48 this season, which makes their defensive record one of the worst in the division.
What is Mallorca's league position going into the Alaves match?
Mallorca are sixteenth in La Liga. They have scored 40 goals and conceded 49 this season. They are only marginally clear of the relegation zone, which makes this a genuine six-pointer for both clubs.
What is Connor Maguire's prediction for Alaves vs Mallorca?
Connor is backing Mallorca to win. His reasoning is straightforward. Alaves have conceded 48 goals at home this season, their defensive standards have been consistently poor, and Mallorca's slightly better attacking output gives them a narrow edge in what is expected to be an open and scrappy encounter.
Deportivo AlavesvMallorcaThis is a match between two sides with nearly identical underlying issues this season, both having conceded heavily and struggled with consistent defensive organisation. The combination of Alaves' home advantage, both teams' propensity to concede, and Mallorca's proven attacking output points to a competitive fixture where the hosts edge the result whilst both teams find the back of the net in an open contest.
- 1Match Result
Deportivo Alaves to win
Alaves benefit from home advantage at Estadio de Mendizorroza, where familiarity with the surface and crowd provides organisational structure that a seventeenth-placed side critically needs. The article emphasises that if Alaves' preparation has been sharp, their coaching staff should have identified transition trigger points that have led to their forty-six goals conceded, allowing them to implement a more compact shape with fewer gaps between the lines to neutralise Mallorca's attack.
- 2Over/Under Goals
Over 2.5 Goals
Both clubs have conceded heavily this season, with Alaves on forty-six goals against and Mallorca on forty-eight, pointing to repeated patterns of defensive breakdown rather than lack of effort. When two sides sharing defensive vulnerabilities meet, the match tends to be decided by managing those vulnerabilities carefully on the day, but their attacking capabilities (thirty-five and thirty-nine goals respectively) suggest clear scoring opportunities will emerge for both sides.
- 3Both Teams to Score
Both Teams to Score - Yes
Mallorca's thirty-nine goals scored demonstrates attacking productivity across the season, whilst Alaves' defensive record of forty-six conceded indicates they have been exposed repeatedly in transition. The underlying structure of both clubs shows they have spent the season making similar mistakes, suggesting Mallorca will find opportunities to score even if Alaves tighten their defensive shape at home.
Exact-price policy
A bookmaker calculates one native price for the complete set of same-match legs. SportSignals does not multiply standalone odds to present an estimated Bet Builder price.
Informational only. Native prices can change or be suspended. Check the bookmaker’s confirmed slip before betting. 18+. Gamble responsibly.