Sevilla vs Rayo Vallecano preview - Emery gets vote of confidence

Posted Wednesday, September 25, 2013 by PA

Sevilla president Jose Maria del Nido has given his support to coach Unai Emery, even though the club find themselves bottom of the Primera Division table.

The Andalusian side are still without a win so far this season, drawing two and losing three of their opening five matches, but Emery has received a vote of confidence ahead of Wednesday's clash with fellow strugglers Rayo Vallecano..

"I'm convinced that Emery will be the coach by the end of the season and I say that because I believe he is going to succeed at Sevilla and that he's capable of taking this project forward," Del Nido told the television channel Telesevilla.

"Thinking about nothing else but sacking the coach is not good for the club. We have to be calm and analyse what has happened up to now.

"Unai's experience means we have more confidence in him."

Sevilla will be without midfielder Victor Machin 'Vitolo' for the visit of Rayo after he was ruled out for 10 days after pulling a hamstring.

He joins the already injured Diego Perroti, Fabricio Fazio and Daniel Carrico on the sidelines.

On the bright side for Emery's side, centre-back Nico Pareja returns to the squad a month after fracturing his shoulder in the first game of the season against Atletico Madrid, while Denis Cheryshev and Jose Antonio Reyes are expected to be available too.

Rayo midfielder Alberto Perea, whose side have just one more point than their opponents, admits he is surprised by Sevilla's poor start to the season.

"I never imagined they would be bottom of the table at this stage of the season, but I think that as the weeks go by they will start picking up more points," he told reporters.

And he suggested the fact that Sevilla are at home may in fact play into Rayo's hands, owing to the extra pressure on them.

"It'll be a difficult situation for them because they will have their fans on top of them because they have taken just two points in five games," said Perea.

Rayo go into the game on the back of a 4-0 defeat at home to league leaders Barcelona, their fourth straight loss, but Perea said the players were positive about their performance against Gerardo Martino's side.

"We are a bit down because we've lost four games in a row and luck hasn't been on our side.

"But now we are just thinking about the match with Sevilla after a game against Barcelona, in which we showed some good signs."

Rayo have no fresh injury concerns for the match, and winger Lass Bangoura returns after completing a suspension.