Granada vs Rayo Vallecano preview - Alcaraz aims to guarantee survival

Granada host Rayo Vallecano on Saturday when they will hope to do what the Vallecas club did the previous week, and get a win that would take them to 40 points and all but seal their Primera Division survival.

The Andalusians were humbled 4-0 by Sevilla last weekend and coach Lucas Alcaraz has called on his team to put their minds at easy by taking a final step towards guaranteeing survival.

"We have to give one final push, we are very excited about doing that so we can go further up the table and feel more comfortable," he told reporters.

Granada have struggled to be consistent this season, their thrashing in Sevilla coming just a week after beating Barcelona.

And Alcaraz refused to say whether his team might find things easier against Rayo than in Seville.

"The games we have left are difficult enough without adding further tension," he said.

"We cannot allow ourselves to get distracted by the consequences, instead we need to focus on the game itself. In front of us we have very difficult opponents and we need to be an intense team that does things the right way and gets results."

Alcaraz could be without midfielders Recio and Fran Rico, plus defender Jeison Murillo, who have not yet recovered from injuries, but is boosted by the return of striker Riki, who has missed the last two games.

Rayo took a step closer to survival with last week's win over the league's whipping boys Real Betis, but striker Ruben Rochina insists his team will keep striving to win all of their four remaining games.

"We aren't satisfied with what we have, we're going to go out and try to win all the games we have left, we are very ambitious," he told reporters.

The Blackburn loanee also explained how the team had turned things around in the last two months, climbing from 19th in the league up to 12th.

"We try and do our job as well as possible and the fans only ask us to defend the shirt by playing well, running hard and giving everything. We are on a good run and it's having a positive effect. The work we put in every day is vital - we train hard all week, we plan our matches very well and we have a style of play that suits us very well."

Rayo have no fresh injury concerns, but Razvan Rat is still suspended.