Savage gives us his thoughts on the pick of the matches in Spain’s Primera División as there looks to be some big upsets on the cards for the top 3
Real Sociedad v Cádiz
Fri 03 Mar 20:00
Sociedad can consider themselves lucky to still be in 3rd place after dropping more points last time out. Just 1 win in their last 5 (W1 D2 L2) has seen them slip badly off the pace set by the top two. An ever increasing injury list has not helped matters in the latter half of the season and the upcoming addition of a two-legged Europa league tie could see the squad stretched even further. However, if there was a fixture that Los Txuri-Urdinak should enjoy, it is against Cádiz. The visitors have lost their last 7 matches in all competitions against the Basque side which is a record that stretches back to 1993..
Barcelona v Valencia
Sun 05 Mar 15:15
Despite all their impressive performances this season and their current lead in the standings, Barcelona still displayed their soft underbelly over the past week. The loss to Man United was compounded by the extremely unexpected loss to Almería which blew their chance to go 10 points clear. However, their midweek victory over Madrid in the Copa should have put an extra pep in the step of the Barca players. Their home form should really be concerning to their visitors on Sunday. Xavi’s side have dropped just 4 points in 11 matches and have conceded just 1 goal in that time (W9 D2). Valencia broke a run of 8 without a win (D1 L7) when they overturned Sociedad thanks to an Igor Zubeldia own goal. The hosts have largely struggled for goals in recent weeks and the away side do not offer up that many either.
Real Betis v Real Madrid
Sun 05 Mar 20:00
The Real players must be suffering a hangover of sorts after their epic encounter with Liverpool in the Champions league. Since then they have drawn with local rivals Atlético and lost the first leg of their Copa semi-final to Barcelona. The most worrying part of the later result was the zero shots on target they registered in front of their home fans. Betis appear to have found a small bit of form of late and have recorded 3 wins on the bounce for the first time since August. They now find themselves just 2 points away from a Champions League berth. Madrid have been far from their best domestically and with Betis finally stringing results together this could be a potential banana skin for the title challengers.
Smart Bets:
Real Sociedad v Cádiz – Cádiz Double Chance @ 6/4
Barcelona v Valencia – Barcelona and Under 2.5 Goals @ 12/5
Real Betis v Real Madrid – Real Betis to Win @ 18/5
The above in a treble at odds of 39/1
