The 2015-16 La Liga season has not been kind to UD Las Palmas.
Sitting in 19th position, the Canary Island club have only one win to their name going in to Jornada 9 where they will be welcoming high-flying Villarreal to the Estadio Gran Canaria.
The clash will serve as the home debut for new manager Quique Setien, who has just replaced Paco Herrera who became the first managerial casualty of the Liga season.
After successful promotion for the Segunda last season, Las Palmas would have been hoping to secure their place in La Primera this season but things have not panned out that way. After suffering defeat on the opening day of the season to Atletico Madrid, Los Amarillos have been facing an uphill task to retain their position in La Liga.
Getting back into the top division was a long time coming for Las Palmas as the 2014-15 season marked their 13th season out of La Liga. Within that spell, two seasons spent in Segunda B marked one of Las Palmas’ worst runs since the club’s inception in 1949. Gone were the days of the late 60s where the Yellows finished in the top three twice and back were the dark days of the 90s which saw them away from the top division for the whole decade.
Las Palmas now sit at the foot of the La Liga table, only above last-placed Granada on goal difference, looking up at the two teams they achieved promotion with, 10th-placed Real Betis and 12th-placed Sporting Gijon.
The Canary Islands club were an early favourite for relegation but do boast some stars in their team. Sergio Araujo, an Argentine youth international, spearheads the attack and while this season only boasts one goal from his eight appearances, his time in the Segunda saw him score 25 times.
Also in the team, although spending most of his time on the bench due to his advanced age, is Spanish legend, and former International, Juan Carlos Valeron. Forty years old and into his 20th year as a professional footballer, Valeron is a player that is known for his intelligence but whose career has been blighted by injury.
Valeron returned to the club at which he began his career in the summer of 2013 following the relegation of his Deportivo La Coruna team. Since then he has had 72 league outings for the club, with many of which coming as a substitute, and has scored three goals.
It is goals which have come at a premium this season for Las Palmas who have only scored six times. That tally makes them the league’s second-lowest scoring team, a record they share with David Moyes’ Real Sociedad and 18th-placed Levante. As it stands, their top scorer is a six-way tie which includes Araujo and Pablo Hernandez of Celta Vigo, who scored an own goal in the team’s 3-3 draw in mid-September.
It is the Las Palmas of that match that they must find in order to stay in the division. Arguably a bigger result than their one win of the season, a 2-0 home victory against Sevilla, it is the Amarillos of that day that must show up every match day to secure a home in La Liga.
There was only 18 minutes on the clock that day when everything appeared to be going wrong for Las Palmas. Having had their goalkeeper Javi Varas sent off for a last-man challenge on Iago Aspas from which Fabian Orellana scored the resulting penalty, and having conceded again from the boot of Danish International Daniel Wass, things were on course for a trouncing. But through fighting spirit and with a bit of luck from the aforementioned Hernandez, Las Palmas secured a 3-3 draw away at a team fighting for European qualification.
If that Las Palmas shows up when they welcome Villarreal this weekend then they stand a fighting chance. On the flip side, if the side which so meekly rolled over to Getafe last time out, the side that cost Herrera his job, takes the field then the Amarillo faithful could be on course to witness another mauling.
Despite their poor start to the season, Las Palmas are in an escapable position. Currently tied on five points with Granada, the two teams only sit one point behind Levante, Malaga and Real Sociedad.
Levante, who currently hold the division’s worst goal difference, are as inconsistent as they come in La Liga. On either side of their victory over Villarreal come two 3-0 defeats, one an expected loss at the Bernabeu, while the other was an equally weak performance still in Madrid at Getafe.
Malaga are the league’s lowest scorers having scored only three times. What makes that stat even worse is that those three goals all came in one game, from one player, against the final of the quintet of relegation candidates Real Sociedad.
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Sociedad are a club in turmoil. In a familiar scene for one man, the cries of “Moyes Out” echo around San Sebastian. David Moyes has never been the correct fit for Sociedad and, despite a 12th-placed finish, is the favourite to be the next manager sacked in La Liga.
The mood is low around the Canary Islands, but with a new man in charge, a legend in the team and the poor showings of those around them, there is still hope that Las Palmas can remain in La Liga come the 2016-17 season.
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