European NAP: La Real on a roll

EUROPEAN football fanatic Mark O'Haire (@MarkOHaire) heads to Denmark on Sunday for his latest best bet on the continent.

Real Sociedad v Osasuna | Sunday 15^th March 2020, 13:00 | La Liga TV

Real Sociedad climbed to fourth in La Liga with a 2-1 win at Eibar on Tuesday, in the first Spanish match played without fans as part of measures to combat the spread of coronavirus. Following a decision by the Spanish sports council, La Liga said the next two rounds would be played in empty stadiums, starting with Tuesday’s Basque derby.

Played in near silence apart from the sounds of the players and staff shouting, Mikel Oyarzabal fired home his eighth goal of the campaign from the penalty spot after 16 minutes to put Sociedad ahead. Alex Remiro kept La Real ahead when saving a penalty and Willian Jose added the second after 75 minutes following good work by winger Portu.

Victory was the San Sebastian club’s 14^th of the season and pushed the Basques above Getafe and Atletico Madrid and into La Liga’s top-four with 11 games to play. Only Real Madrid and Barcelona have scored more league goals than Imanol Alguacil’s outfit in this memorable campaign with Sociedad also booking their place in the Copa del Rey final.

Attention now turns to Sunday’s showdown with Osasuna and La Real are worthy favourites to extend their excellent recent run (W5-D0-L2). The hosts have taken top honours in their past four Anoeta encounters, keeping clean sheets in three of those fixtures, whilst returning W8-D1-L2 here when welcoming teams outside of the top-five.

Sociedad are a little too short to support in the Match Odds market so chuck in Over 1.5 Goals for a more palatable 10/11 (Coral) offering. All bar one of La Real’s matches here have featured at least two goals in 2019/20 with the average coming in at a healthy 3.00 goals.

Newly-promoted Osasuna have consolidated superbly in mid-table. The robust visitors have produced their best work at their base in Pamplona, as well as against the league’s lesser lights – Los Rojillos have W3-D3-L9 against teams above them and taken one point from a possible 18 when travelling to the top-nine.

Osasuna will also be without leading goalscorer Chimy Avila after serious injury in late January. The Argentine was one of the standout stars for the side, scoring nine goals and providing two assists before being ruled out for the campaign – the guests have since lost four of their six outings.