Villarreal Coach Fran Escriba believes Sporting Gijon will ‘fight for their lives’ during Friday night’s clash at Estadio de la Ceramica.
The Asturians are six points from safety after Leganes defeated Las Palmas on Wednesday night and with only four league matches remaining, are now desperate for points to avoid relegation.
“Sporting are a team who are very well organised and extremely competitive,” Escriba explained at his pre-match press conference.
“They will fight for their lives and you can see by the league table how important this game is for them, so we will need to match these levels.
“We will need to find the creativity to break down their defence but also need to be wary of their attack – they will wait for their moment to hurt us.
“Our objective of European football is clear at this stage but we need to be better in the final third, we need to play with greater intensity.”
