Deportivo La Coruna vs Levante preview - Levante bid to maintain form

Posted Sunday, March 20, 2011 by PA

Levante will look to continue their impressive recent revival and take another step closer to safety when they face Deportivo La Coruna.

An immediate return to the Segunda Division looked on the cards as Levante lay rock-bottom in January, but in their last eight games they have picked up five wins and suffered just one loss - at Real Madrid.

That run has seen Levante climb up to 13th spot, six points above the relegation places, and with five of their next six fixtures coming against teams below them, the Valencia-based side can feel relatively pleased with their situation.

Winger Juanlu, who scored his side's goal in last week's 1-1 draw with Real Mallorca, insists they cannot rest on their laurels though.

He said in AS: "Right now there are many teams who would like to be in our situation, but we can't relax.

"We're on a good run, but if we went through another spell like we did when we lost five successive matches then every game would be like the one against Getafe (at the end of January) where it`s do or die."

Ahead of Levante, the European places are now 10 points away, and while Juanlu admits it would be nice to be looking further up the table, he admits they cannot get carried away either.

"What we need to do is continue as we have been doing. I wish we could fight for other objectives, but right now it's just an interesting aside.

"It would've been nice to have beaten Mallorca, but I'm sure this point will be valuable in the end."

Depor are one point and one place below Levante after losing 2-0 at high-flying Espanyol last weekend.

Miguel Angel Lotina's side had been unbeaten in five games prior to that match, but their cause in Barcelona was not helped by the dismissal of Pablo Alvarez shortly before half-time.