La Liga Betting: Bank on Villarreal and Sevilla keeping it tight

Dan Fitch is expecting the game between Villarreal and Sevilla to have few goals, as he previews Monday's La Liga fixtures.

Low scoring game between tight defences

Villarreal 2.86 v Sevilla 2.60; The Draw 3.50
Monday 22 June, 18:30
Live on LaLigaTV and Betfair Live Video

Two teams aiming for Champions League qualification meet on Monday, when Villarreal host Sevilla.

When the season restarted, Villarreal looked like outsiders for a Europa League place, with the Champions League a distant dream. Three straight wins has moved them up to seventh and they are now only five points behind Sevilla in third.

On Friday they defeated Granada 1-0, which was their third successive win by that scoreline. The match against Sevilla marks the start of a very tough run of fixtures, in which they will also face the likes of Valencia, Barcelona, Real Sociedad and Real Madrid. If Villarreal do qualify for Europe, they will have earned it.

Sevilla are also unbeaten since the season restarted (W1 D2). They too were in action on Friday, when they drew 0-0 at home with Barcelona. Rather predictably, Barcelona dominated possession, but they could not find their way through a Sevilla defence that sat deep and were happy to attack on the break. Sevilla had chances to win the game, with Lucas Ocampos hitting the bar in the first-half and Sergio Reguilon spurning a great opportunity in stoppage time.

With both teams in good form it's not surprise to see the odds are fairly tight. It makes sense to avoid predicting the result and look towards this being a low scoring game, with Villarreal having kept three clean sheets post-lockdown and iiSevilla only conceding once (an entirely avoidable own goal). Under 2.5 goals looks big at 1.94.

Value lies with visitors

Leganes 2.34 v Granada 3.60; The Draw 2.96
Monday 22 June, 21:00
Live on LaLigaTV and Betfair Live Video

Rock bottom Leganes have eight games remaining to save their top flight status, with Granada kicking off that run when they visit on Monday night.

Leganes picked up their first point since the season resumed when they drew 1-1 at Mallorca on Friday. Under the circumstances it can be viewed as a positive result. Mallorca are also in the relegation zone and were 1-0 up for most of the match, before Oscar Rodriguez scored an 87th minute equaliser.

Rodriguez has now scored four goals in his last three appearances, taking his total to nine goals in 28 games over the season. The 21-year old looks vital to his team's chances of survival.

Granada saw an eight game unbeaten run come to an end on Friday when they lost at home to Villarreal. They had chances to get back into the game after Gerard Moreno gave Villarreal the lead in the 11th minute and a draw would have probably been a fairer result.

Given that Granada were fairly unfortunate to see their long unbeaten run come to an end and the fact that Leganes are bottom of the table, it's hard to see why the home side are such short favourites. You can play it safe and back Granada in the Draw No Bet market and still get odds of 2.50.