THERE’S two games taking place in La Liga tonight. We got Mark O’Haire (@MarkOHaire) to find the best bets.
Levante v Getafe | Monday 18.00
Two of La Liga’s lesser lights do battle at Ciutat de València with Levante welcoming Getafe and it could pay to back the home side to score the first goal at 1/1 with Paddy Power.
Since Lucas Alcaraz took charge of the hosts, Levante have broken the deadlock in three of their four fixtures and taken seven points from 12 to move away from the Primera drop zone. That’s included two wins from two at their base in Valencia.
Getafe have also found their feet in recent weeks but back-to-back defeats have dragged Cosmin Contra’s outfit into the bottom-half again. And the Romanian coach is unlikely to be impressed by his side’s slow starts.
The Deep Blues have conceded the opening goal in 9/13 (69%) games this season including five of their six on the road. In fact, looking further back they’ve leaked the first goal in 15/19 La Liga away matches.
With that in mind, it makes sense to have a play on a buoyant Levante coming out of the blocks the fastest.
Eibar v Almeria | Monday 16.00
Tiny Eibar have made a big impression in their first season in Spain’s top-flight. Three points at home to struggling Almeria could drag the minnows into the top-half and give them the dubious honour of being the best-performing Basque club in 2014/15.
But it’s hard to find real substance for backing the hosts at 11/10. They’ve failed to record a victory in front of their home fans since their historic curtain-raiser against Real Sociedad with Gaizka Garitano failing to see off the likes of Levante, Granada and Deportivo at their unique Ipurua home.
It’s true Almeria are finding things tough. The visitors have only scored twice in their past six games and haven’t tasted victory since late September. However, seven of the 10 points to their name have been collected on the road.
Since Francisco Rodríguez took charge, the Rojiblancos have lost 16/25 (64%) of their road games but two of their seven wins in that time have come this term. Instead, it might pay to have a small dabble on Both Teams To Score at 23/20 with BetVictor.
Eibar have failed to keep a clean sheet at home since the aforementioned win over Sociedad on the opening day. And take out games against Barcelona and Real Madrid (where they came mighty close to scoring in both) and they’ve netted in 9/11 matches this season.
Almeria have managed just the two clean sheets this term and whilst scoring goals has been an issue of late, they can claim to have netted in 6/8 games against bottom-half teams this season.
Best Bets
Levante v Getafe – Levante to score first (1/1 Paddy Power)
Eibar v Almeria – Both Teams To Score (23/20 BetVictor)
