Levante vs Almeria preview - Esteban: We need to stay grounded

Almeria goalkeeper Esteban has urged his team-mates to resist getting carried away by the euphoria of last weekend's win over Atletico Madrid and instead focus on following it up with a result at Levante.

Two late goals from Verza meant the Andalusians became the first team to beat Atletico in the Primera Division for three-and-a-half months and the victory gave Francisco Javier Rodriguez's side a four-point cushion above the relegation zone.

But Esteban warned that now was no time for the team to begin resting on their laurels.

"A lot of things have been said about Almeria in the last week, and good things too, but we cannot let that weaken us, not at all," he told a press conference.

"We have 25 points and we are very happy about that, but we need another 15 or 17 points to seal survival.

"We have to remind ourselves that, if we stay up, we will only do so in the last few weeks of the season. We are going to suffer a lot longer until we get to 40 or 45 points."

Although Levante do not strike the same fear into opponents as Diego Simeone's title chasers, Joaquin Caparros's battling team have gone five games without a league defeat and have kept two clean sheets in a row.

"We have to remember what type of team we are facing," added Esteban.

"Levante don't need to do a lot to win and if they take the lead it's very difficult to score against them."

The Valencian side's resistance in recent weeks has taken them up to 10th in the Primera Division, but striker David Barral insists their number one priority remains avoiding the drop.

And he hopes they can take another step towards that goal with a win on Saturday.

The match is the first in three games against teams near the bottom of the table for Levante, followed by Real Valladolid and Osasuna, and Barral is aiming for three wins out of three so they can be almost assured of survival by the time they face Real Madrid.

"We are enjoying our best form of the season but this weekend we have to win," he said.

"It's a crucial weekend for our aim of securing survival, because a win would take us very close to doing that and to a very comfortable place. After this weekend we have three matches against teams we think we can beat so we could clinch survival very soon."

Levante will be without the injured Nikos Karabelas, while Andreas Ivanschitz and Loukas Vyntra are suspended and Pedro Rios has been left out of the squad.

Fernando Soriano, who is suspended, is Almeria's only fresh absentee.