The final game of matchday one in La Liga this weekend is potentially an early season relegation battle as last year's 17th and 18th placed sides face off; Granada hosting Eibar.

After being granted a second chance in the top flight, being reinstated in La Liga, despite finishing in the relegation zone, after Elche dropped back to the second tier as punishment for breaching financial regulations, Eibar will be looking to start the 2015-16 with a bang and forget a dismal debut in the top flight.

However, Granada will be keen to get things off to a good start too having finished level on points with Eibar last season, escaping relegation, before Elche's punishment, only by their superior head-to-head record.

Both will see this as a very winnable fixture and a crucial one too, as it gives them an opportunity to gain an advantage on the head-to-head, which proved important last season.

Season aims

The target for the coming campaign for both sides will be to simply maintain their La Liga status. Both escaped relegation by the skin of their teeth last time out, and they will be happy with the same again, with a mid-table finish their dream season.

However, both will be searching for improvements, certainly, especially Eibar after they needed Elche's failures off the pitch to allow them to remain in the top flight. Neither will want to be scrapping it out as vigorously as was required last year, but will settle for this if the fight ends successful given the mass changes in each squad over the summer.

Current form

Granada come into this fixture off the back of a far from ideal pre-season campaign, during which they registered only three wins from seven games - these coming against Albacete, Cadiz and Udinese, the latter the only impressive victory.

A draw against La Hoya Lorca and defeats to Cordoba, Ittihad Tanger and Real Betis mean they come into the new season lacking real confidence, which Eibar will look to exploit.

However, they themselves did not prepare brilliantly either. Whilst the 4-1 defeat to Celtic could have perhaps been predicted, losses to Osasuna, Tenerife and Real Valladolid did not impress, with their only wins over the summer coming against UD Logrones, Real Union, Mensajero and Numancia.

It will be interesting to see how both teams play in this fixture as a result, as neither will be exactly oozing self-belief off the back of disappointing summers.

Previous meetings

These two have met just twice before in their history - both meetings last season in the league. Nothing could separate them either, as each fixture ended all square, Eibar's home game a 1-1 result, whilst the return fixture produced a goalless draw.

In that score draw, Allan Nyom, who has since returned to parent club Udinese and joined Watford on a permanent deal in the Premier League, opened the scoring for Granada after just eight minutes, whilst Eneko Boveda, who joined Athletic Bilbao on a free this summer, equalised just less than half an hour later.

If these past encounters are anything to go by, it will be a cagey affair come Monday evening, with few goals on show as neither side looks to risk anything, especially on the opening weekend.

Key players

Granada come into the match with a full strength squad at their disposal and will look at loan signing Thievy Bifouma as a big player for them, not only this weekend, but for the whole season. The striker has arrived on loan from Espanyol for the coming campaign, having failed to impress his parent club both with them and elsewhere.

He scored just four goals for Almeria last year in 29 games, but, these helped the side secure some great results, with the 23-year-old popping up with big goals in wins over Eibar and Celta Vigo in the final few weeks of the season. Granada will be hoping for more of the same from him, albeit with more consistency, this time out.

Thievy has been brought in to take some of the goal-scoring burden from Youssef El-Arabi too, who netted eight last year, finishing as the team's top-scorer. These two will looking to form a deadly partnership to keep Granada afloat, whilst vice-captain Piti sits behind them in an attacking midfield role, pulling all the strings and looking to add to the three assists he managed last campaign.

As for Eibar, they too bring a full squad into this match, with the exception of young left-back Ander Gayoso who unfortunately ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament over the summer after a successful season long-loan with third-tier side Barakaldo.

Aleksandar Pantic will be a pivotal figure in this game, the on-loan Villarreal defender looking to prove himself after a shaky season with the Yellow Submarine last year. The Serb could provide game-defining moments either for the good or the bad of his new team, such is his inconsistency, but Eibar will hope for the former.

Another loan signing expected to definitely have a positive effect though is Atletico Madrid striker Borja Gonzalez. The 22-year-old scored a marvellous 23 goals in 39 games for Real Zaragoza last season and will be another who comes to Ameros with ambitions to stand out as he looks to push himself into Diego Simeone's thoughts at the Vicente Calderón.

Prediction

With it being an opening fixture for both, this game is bound to be cagey. Neither will want to suffer defeat first time out and thus it is expected to be a scrappy match with little in terms of real quality as both prioritise a point to kick off their seasons.

Yet, each team have recruited some promising young players in the loan market this summer, and it will be their creativity that comes closest to giving either side a victory on Monday evening - either that, or some poor defending, something that characterised both team's 2014-15 seasons.

A low scoring draw is expected as both look to get something on the board from week one.