With an inspection of our key players, Mallorca's got Sergi Darder and Martin Valjent up their sleeve. Darder's been a formidable force with a decent shot on goal record and, let's not forget, Valjent's passing accuracy that's impressive, to say the least. But unfortunately, we don't have any info on their goalkeeper, a bit of a wildcard situation there.
Over on the Rayo Vallecano front, they're boasting Aridane Hernandez and Florian Lejeune. Hernandez, with his stellar passing accuracy and Lejeune, stepping up the game with 2 goals and solid shooting record. But let's not tarnish their shine with their Goalkeepers, Augusto Batalla and Dani Cardenas, who seemed to have spent more time admiring the grass than actually saving the balls.
Now regarding their past matchups, Rayo Vallecano has been singing the blues with only a draw to their name. Mallorca, on the other hand, got away with two wins out of three.
Looking at their regular-season records, nothing seismically different; they're both sitting on 13 wins with Vallecano having a slightly higher number of draws.
As for the recent results, it seems Mallorca had a bit of a tumble off the wagon, losing most of their previous matches. Rayo Vallecano, albeit suffering a big blow against Atletico Madrid, managed to recover quite well with a series of wins.
After meticulously scrutinizing every molecule of this matchup, I'd say fasten your seat belts, because if my hunch is correct...
Albert’s Prediction: Rayo Vallecano by 1