Villarreal and Almeria to entertain at El Madrigal

Weekend Spanish Primera Division matches – Friday 17 January 2014

There is a strong possibility of a high-scoring Spanish Primera Division match between Villarreal and Almeria so bet on the teams combining for over two and a half goals.

Almeria hosted Villarreal in the first round of the Spanish Primera Division season and the game was incident packed. Villarreal won 3-2 away from home thanks to two late goals after Rodrigo Rios has put Almeria ahead not once but twice.

Ten of Villarreal’s 19 Spanish Primera Division matches have gone over two and a half goals, including seven of its 10 home games and each of its last four matches anywhere. Ten of Almeria’s 19 Spanish Primera Division games have gone over two and a half goals, including seven of its 10 away matches and each of its last two games anywhere.

Ladbrokes and ComeOn are offering odds of 1.73 about Villarreal and Almeria going over two and a half goals for the second time this term. Odds of around 1.60 would be fair given the home, away and overall statistics of the two sides so get stuck into the offers of Ladbrokes and Paddy Power.

Fourth-placed Bilbao has not lost a competitive home match in any competition this season and the Basques have the look of bankers at odds of 1.40 with many bookmakers, including Coral and Youwin, to defeat one of the Spanish Primera Division’s relegation candidates, Valladolid.

Bilbao capitalised on the absence of Barcelona star Lionel Messi to beat Barca 1-0, one of eight wins from its 10 home matches in the Spanish Primera Division. Bilbao, will be licking its lips at the prospect of getting hold of a Valladolid team in awful form, particularly as the Basques won the reverse fixture 2-1 in the opening round.

Valladolid has won just one of its 11 games across all competitions and its Spanish Primera Division away record of one win – a 3-0 victory over home struggler Celta – three draws and six losses is second worst in the top flight.

Worryingly for Valladolid supporters, its side has conceded at least three goals in each of its last four away matches and two of their opponents in that run – Espanyol and Granada are averaging under one goal per Spanish Primera Division home game if one excludes their romps against Valladolid.

Bilbao are teasingly priced at odds of 2.30 with Betway to beat Valladolid to nil but the away team has a pretty good scoring record for one that is entrenched in a fight for its Spanish Primera Division life, hitting the back of the net in six of its 10 top-flight road matches. If one expects Bilbao to take Valladolid to the cleaners it makes more sense to bet on over two and a half goals at odds of 1.73. Six of Bilbao’s 10 league home games have gone over two and a half goals, including its 6-1 thrashing of Almeria last weekend. Over two-and-a-half goals punters were collecting their winnings after only 30 minutes.

Finally, Sociedad may be worth a nibble at odds of 2.40 with Boylesports to bounce back from their 1-5 away loss to Villarreal with a road win over Getafe.

Domestically, Sociedad has been in generally good form since the middle of October 2013, with its only losses occurring away from home versus Real Madrid and Villarreal. Sociedad has climbed the Spanish Primera Division steadily following its ordinary start to the term and occupies one of the UEFA Europa League berth as it stands. Sociedad looks very well positioned to take part in European competitions again.

Getafe has copped a couple of recent hidings from Barcelona and, while there is no shame in getting dusted by Barca, it is not so easy to gloss over its other recent results, which include a 0-7 loss at Atletico Madrid, a 3-0 loss at Sevilla and a 0-1 loss at home to 19th-placed Rayo Vallecano.

Sociedad will be itching to get its four-goal defeat away to Villarreal out of its system, whereas Getafe has had ample opportunity to fight back from its recent reverses. Sociedad won the reverse fixture 2-0 when it was in ordinary form.