MONDAY night’s La Liga offering features two struggling sides. Mark O’Haire’s (@MarkOHaire) found two bets of interest for Levante’s clash with Granada.
Levante v Granada | Monday 19.45
Levante meet Granada on Monday tonight in what could most definitely be described as a ‘six-pointer’. Between them, the two teams have managed just seven wins from 46 La Liga fixtures this season but with both sides four points adrift of safety, a victory could prove pivotal in their fight against the drop.
Levante’s most recent win came in their last home match at Ciutat de Valencia as David Barral’s hat-trick helped the hosts to an impressive 4-1 destruction of Malaga. True, it’s their only victory in their previous 11 games but they’ve now suffered just one defeat in seven at their Valencia base, conceding only seven goals in those games.
The recent addition of Kalu Uche to partner Barral in attack will certainly boost the Frogs’ forward line and head coach Lucas Alcaraz remains bullish about his side’s chances of avoiding the drop, claiming their home form could be the catalyst to climb out of the relegation zone. I’m inclined to agree.
They have a great chance to pick up three more points on Monday. Since the start of last season, Levante have kept clean sheets in five of their seven home fixtures against bottom-six sides. Visitors Granada arrive having fired blanks in three of their last four on the road and are without two of their key playmakers in Fran Rico and Piti while Emanuel Insua and Jhon Cordoba are also sidelined through suspension.
Without Rico, Granada have won just once in 14 matches, losing 12 and scoring just three goals. They’ve also failed to find the net in 14 of the 25 matches that Piti has missed since the start of last season. So you can see how crucial both players are to their survival prospects.
What’s more, Granada have picked up just three points from their last 10 games on their travels, hold the worst away defensive record (leaking at least twice in their last six road trips) and have now W1-D8-L10 of their last 19 La Liga matches anywhere. There’s talent in the squad to survive but it remains to be seen if Abel Resino can keep the sinking ship afloat.
I’m going to take Levante with a -0.25 Asian Handicap start at 7/8 with Bet365. Backing this bet basically means we’ll have a winner should the Frogs do the business but only lose half of our stake should the match end in a draw.
It’s worth noting that Levante have W4-D1-L1 of the last six head-to-head battles, winning the last two meetings on the spin. And with 12 of Granada’s last 17 away defeats since the start of last season coming ‘to nil’, I’m going to have a small play on the home side winning ‘to nil’ at 9/4 with SkyBet.
Best Bets
Levante v Granada – Levante -0.25 Asian Handicap (7/8 Bet365)
Levante v Granada – Levante to win ‘to nil’ (9/4 SkyBet)
*Remember, you can earn a bonus of up to 100% on your returns if you place accumulators on the Premier League, Serie A, La Liga or Bundesliga with Bet365. Place a pre-match accumulator of 3 or more selections combining teams in any of those competitions, and if successful Bet365 will add the a bonus to your returns.*
Your View
What’s your best bet from Spain on Monday night? Do you agree with Mark’s selections?
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