Mendilibar: "We've looked really good over the past three months"
A quartet of Eibar players are ruled out of the trip to Vigo, whilst Dani García is a doubt
Speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of Saturday's trip to Balaídos to face RC Celta, José Luis Mendilibar declared that "We've looked really good over the past three months".
Since 5 November, when the side slipped to a 3-1 reverse at Anoeta, the Armeros have tasted defeat just twice, both of which came at Ipurua, against Atlético Madrid and FC Barcelona. Meanwhile, the side are unbeaten on their travels in this sequence of fixtures.
For their visit to Celta, Eibar are without the injured Iván Ramis, Sergi Enrich and Fran Rico, whilst Fabián Orellana misses out through suspension. Captain Dani García, meanwhile, will undergo a late fitness test after having sprained his knee.
When quizzed about his team's trio of defeats at the hands of the Vigo outfit this term (one in LaLiga and two in the Copa del Rey), Mendilibar insisted that "It's not about revenge, it's just another game and each match is different".
"The three games have all been different. In the LaLiga match they beat us comfortably and we made a lot of mistakes. The Copa del Rey matches were contrasting affairs: they deservedly beat us 2-1 here and we then lost 1-0 at their place in a game in which we were the better side. We need to perform as we did in our last meeting against them, but take our chances and prevent them from creating any goalscoring opportunities".
"It won't be easy because they too have their own targets in mind. They're up there battling away with us. They come into the game on the back of a defeat in a game in which they played poorly. Let's see if we manage to perform as we did in our last visit there".
"The results dictate everything but we've looked really good over the past three months. We've competed very well, regardless of whether we've won, drawn or lost the games. I hope that this squad is able to continue performing as they have been and show complete belief in what we're doing, that's the key. I imagine that at some point we'll see us put in a poor performance. I hope that it's not in this game and that we continue to show the same belief".
On his side's targets for the season, Mendilibar stressed that the aim was to collect enough points to secure survival, adding that "To be able to think about achieving something special, you need to have done something significant or have come close to doing so in the past".
"Our biggest achievement has been to stay in the division. Because we haven't got that know-how that comes from having been up there, until we are, we can't set ourselves the target of achieving anything. It's just a case of continuing to compete in every game, trying to win each match and not thinking that we've done our job by staying up".