David Moyes has warned Real Sociedad that they are still not safe from relegation in La Liga ahead of Sunday’s match against Espanyol.
The Basques remain just three points clear of the bottom three, despite their seemingly-comfortable 12th placing, following last week’s 2-0 defeat at Valencia, and the Scot has urged his players to take advantage of their game in-hand.
“[Espanyol’s] a good opportunity for us. The players have trained well this week and some players have regained fitness,” he said at a Press conference.
“Some are still not ready to play but recovering [nonetheless]. We have two home games and one away [coming up].
“We must try to secure [maximum] points and get into the top half of the table.
“It’s difficult for Carlos [Vela to play] because he’s only trained for a few days after six weeks out.
“[David] Zurutuza’s been training for two days. Chori [Castro] and Joseba [Zaldua] were playing regularly before getting injured and are therefore closer to playing again.
“You never know how [the Copa del Rey elimination] will affect Espanyol, but their last game was physically demanding and they had to work very hard.
“It was a great achievement for them to reach the semi-finals and I guess they’ll be disappointed.
“However, this is another match. We’re fit and have to play well. I hope our good dynamics at home will give us leverage.
“We’re in the fight to avoid relegation. When I arrived I said the priority was to avoid relegation and that’s still the case because we haven’t won enough games, although we haven’t lost much.
“We must try to get more points in order to move away from danger, but I think the team are good enough to stay up. It’s easy to say so, now have to prove it on the pitch.
“[John Aldridge] was a fantastic striker, who always had a keen eye for goal and was always in the right place at the right time. I hope to have a catch-up with him [on Sunday].”
