Real Sociedad travel to San Mamés on 1 November for the Basque derby against Athletic Club. They arrive in good shape: [1] reports four wins in their last five matches and fifth place in LaLiga with 19 points. The derby will test whether that run can carry over to one of the hardest away fixtures in the league.
Squad news and absences
The injury list is short. According to [2], Real Sociedad finished their penultimate training session before the game with no new medical problems, which leaves 23 players available. Álvaro Odriozola is the only absentee through injury.
The other notable name missing is Arsen Zakharyan. [3] says he is not in the squad for the derby and that Matarazzo had anticipated this. The same report describes the impact as limited, because Zakharyan was not part of the coach’s regular rotations. So the absence looks more like a selection decision than a damaging loss, and it should not change the shape of the team much.
With so many players fit, Matarazzo has real choices to make. That is a good problem to have in a derby, though it also means the starting XI is not fully settled.
The likely line-up
The defence and goalkeeper look the clearest part of the team. Reports point to Álex Remiro in goal, with Aramburu, Jon Martín, Mamadou Sarr and Sergio Gómez in front of him. The reliability of that information is moderate, since the 30 October report treats it as a probable line-up, not a confirmed one.
Midfield is where the uncertainty sits. Jon Gorrotxategi appears to have moved ahead of Yangel Herrera, while Carlos Soler and Beñat Turrientes are described as competing for the remaining place. Treat this as a lean, not a certainty: the sources give it only about even odds.
In attack, Mikel Oyarzabal and Gonçalo Guedes are expected to start. The 30 October report adds that Luka Sučić, Ander Barrenetxea and Takefusa Kubo are competing for the other two attacking places. Orri Steinn Óskarsson is expected to begin on the bench, though that is also flagged as uncertain.
Recent form and what the results show
The run behind the good form is easy to trace. Real Sociedad beat Valencia 3-2 away, Deportivo La Coruña 3-2 at home, Málaga 5-2 away and Levante 2-1 at home. Across those four wins they scored 13 goals and conceded seven, so the results have been entertaining but not especially tight at the back.
The one defeat in the last five came on 13 September, a 0-3 home loss to Atlético Madrid. That is the only recent result that reads as a clear setback, and it came against one of the stronger sides in the division.
Over the full season, the record is six wins, one draw and three defeats from 10 games, with 19 goals scored and 18 conceded. A goal difference of just plus one stands out next to the points total. The attack is producing, but the side has been giving chances away, and an Athletic team at home will look to exploit that.
What it means
Fifth place with 19 points from 10 games is a solid position for Real Sociedad, and the form table backs it up. Four wins in five matches shows a team that is scoring freely and finding ways to win games that stay open. The thin goal difference of plus one is the caveat: the points are ahead of the underlying margin.
The next fixture asks a different question from most of the recent ones. The recent wins came in high-scoring games against Valencia, Deportivo, Málaga and Levante. The derby at San Mamés is likely to be more physical and more tightly contested, and conceding twice, as they did in all four recent wins, could be costly there.
The site’s forecast reflects that. It gives Athletic Club a narrow edge, with a predicted score of 2-1. The probabilities are 38.0% for a home win, 28.0% for a draw and 34.0% for a Real Sociedad win, so the gap between the two sides is small. A Real Sociedad win is far from out of the question, especially with a nearly full squad and an attack led by Oyarzabal and Guedes. A result in the derby would also say a lot about whether this run is a genuine push up the table.
