Real Betis midfielder Ryan Donk has pointed to shock results from Alaves this season and believes his side must guard against this element of surprise.

The newly promoted Basque club picked up a shock early win at the Camp Nou alongside a draw at Atletico Madrid and three points at Villarreal to complete a fine start to their campaign.

“We have to be careful not to leave spaces behind the defence or between them and the midfield, because Alaves are very good at taking advantage of those and punishing you,” Donk told Estadio Deportivo.

“They have had some great results this season and have surprised quite a lot of people so we need to guard against it.

“In terms of style and formation, we both have five-man defences at the moment so that will make  things interesting and we will need to know how to exploit that.”

The 30-year-old – on loan from Turkish side Galatasaray – also called on his side to end their nine-month spell without back-to-back La Liga victories after their 1-0 defeat of Athletic Bilbao last Sunday.

“Nine months is a very long time but it shows how difficult and competitive this league – everybody plays well,” the Dutchman continued.

“We will do our upmost to end this streak, we need to start winning more games although (under new manager Victor Sanchez del Amo) we have started on this path.

“This is a young squad with a lot of new players so we need a little bit of time to get to the level we aim to be at.”

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La Liga - Club News