la liga has a very familiar look as we press on with the second half of the season and almost all spanish football experts would have predicted that real madrid, barcelona and atletico madrid would be where they currently are: in the top three. with all three in action over the weekend we take a look at their games as well as another huge clash from the spanish top flight as we offer up our predictions, betting tips and, via our live betting odds comparison, the best odds for all your bets.
barcelona v villarreal
sixth placed villarreal travel to the nou camp to play barcelona and, with the catalans almost certain to come into this late sunday kick off four points behind real, a win is a must for luis enrique’s men.
naturally enough, the good folk who set the odds see no other result than a home win, with neymar and co priced at best betting odds of just 1/4 here whilst the away side are way out at 14/1 and even the draw is massive at 11/2. barcelona have won the vast majority of their home games very easily and that is what we predict here – another comfortable victory. their goal difference at home is +28 from nine games and they have dropped points just once, in a shock 1-0 loss to celta vigo.
there are signs they are finding their best form and responding to criticism, and having won their last three games by an aggregate of 13-1, including a 3-1 win over atletico at the nou camp, one has to fear for villarreal here.
the underdogs have been strong on their travels, drawing at malaga, winning at atletico and losing just once thus far this la liga season but even so, our betting tip has to be for the home side to win with room to spare. backing barcelona/barcelona in the half time/full time betting market is one option but we prefer to back lionel messi to guide his men to a win by exactly three goals, available at great odds of 4/1 with bet365.
eibar v atletico madrid
tiny eibar are performing brilliantly to sit eighth in la liga after 20 games and nobody could have predicted the club, whose stadium holds just 5,000, would be doing so well. their record against sides outside the top four is brilliant and whilst they have lost four from four against the big guns, they are already well on their way to securing la liga survival, which would be an astonishing achievement in itself.
they welcome diego sineone’s men to the basque country here and the team from madrid can be sure of a hot reception. the reverse fixture ended 2-1 to atletico and so gaizka garitano’s men will feel they have a sniff of an upset here. the bookies don’t agree, with the home side available at chunky odds of 11/2 whilst the visitors are odds-on at 7/10 at sky bet. those who want to bet on the draw – and eibar have shared the points in six la liga games thus far – can get odds of 14/5 with bet365 but we have to favour the men from the spanish capital.
atletico are solid on their travels and they have only failed to win one of their last five liga games – away at barcelona. it may be close, and betting on eibar +1.5 is well worth considering, but overall the away win is our prediction and main betting tip for this one.
real madrid v real sociedad
real madrid v real sociedad is another battle between a basque side and a team from spain’s capital and given sociedad won the reverse fixture the home side are sure to want to put david moyes’ side in their place.
sociedad won the previous match 4-2 before moyes took over and whilst the san sebastian team have won 10 points from four home games with the current top four, their record on the road is dreadful. they have the 19th best away record in la liga and so we have to predict they will struggle at the bernabeu, playing a team that has won all but one of their home league matches. madrid’s astounding run of consecutive wins was ended earlier in the month by valencia but it is easy to see why they are priced at odds of just 2/9 here, even without the services of the suspended cristiano ronaldo.
if you fancy moyes can mastermind another upset then back sociedad at huge betting odds of 16/1 or consider the draw at a healthy 6/1. we can only see one result though and whilst the visitors may keep things tight in the first half we expect madrid to eventually nick a winner. as such our prediction here is draw/madrid, available at betting odds of 18/5.
sevilla v espanyol
sevilla, currently fifth in la liga, welcome barcelona’s less famous side, espanyol, to the ramon sanchez pizjuan, and with the visitors some 13 points adrift of unai emery’s side it looks, on paper, like another home win betting tip.
the bookies certainly feel that way, with sevilla priced at best betting odds of 8/13 with bet365 whilst those predicting an away victory can get odds of 5/1 at betfred, while the draw is on offer at odds of 10/3 with unibet.
sevilla are yet to lose at home this season in la liga, winning seven and drawing three of their 10 games and given espanyol have the worst away record in spain we simply have to tip a home win here. odds of 8/13 represents arguably the bet of the weekend so pile in as we really don’t see the visitors adding to their five away points here.