Rayo Vallecano sit seventh in the La Liga 2021/22 table, only two points behind top four, at the end of match week 20 after having been promoted only at the start of the season. Andoni Iraola’s men have the joint fourth best defensive record in the league and that is one of the biggest reasons why they are where they are in the table.

The following visualisation shows Rayo Vallecano’s Expected Goals For (xG) and Expected Goals Against (xGA) game by game in the La Liga season so far.

Rayo Vallecano have scored 27 goals from an xG of 28.89 and have conceded 21 goals from an xGA of 28.82. So it is fair to say that they have been a little lucky when it comes to their defensive record. Vallecano started off the season poorly failing to score in their first two games and conceding four goals in total with an xGA of 5.23. Andoni Iraola’s men then went five games unbeaten scoring 13 goals and conceding only three. Vallecano’s xG and xGA stood impressive during this early season run as indicated in the above visual. Rayo Vallecano’s form since that five game unbeaten streak has been fairly inconsistent to say the least. This inconsistency can largely be attributed to their form in front of the goal over the last few games. Their game against Atletico Madrid saw them create nothing meaningful as indicated by their xG of 0.02 in match week 19. Vallecano’s form against the big boys has also been poor, losing against Sevilla, Real Madrid, Real Sociedad, Atletico Madrid and Real Betis, all of whom are above them in the table. One of their best results of the season came against Barcelona in match week 11 with Vallecano winning 1-0. However, that game was Vallecano’s second worst defensive performance conceding an xGA of 2.98.

Rayo Vallecano have been good against the teams below them and look set for a comfortable mid table finish. If they can finish in any one of the European spots, this season would be considered as a massive overachievement.