La Liga: Barcelona opponents have surprisingly good home record

La Liga Tips: Barcelona opponents have surprisingly good home record

Dan Fitch thinks that rock bottom Huesca could keep it tight at home to Barcelona, as he previews the weekend La Liga matches...

Low scoring derby ahead

Real Betis 4.0 v Sevilla 2.1; The Draw 3.6
Saturday 2 January, 15:15
Live on LaLigaTV and Betfair Live Video

It's the Seville derby on Saturday as Real Betis host fourth placed Sevilla.

Betis are in tenth place and in erratic form. They've failed to win successive games in La Liga since September and come into this match off the back of a 4-3 defeat at Levante.

As unreliable as Betis are, what we can expect is for them to be fired up to face their big rivals. After a poor start, Sevilla are now in good form and are unbeaten in four (W3 D1).

Sevilla should win again, but you never know in a derby. With Sevilla's last six matches seeing less than three goals, under 2.5 goals looks a safer bet at 1.8.

Another narrow win for Alaves

Alaves 7.6 v Atletico Madrid 1.62; The Draw 3.9
Sunday 3 January, 15:15
Live on LaLigaTV and Betfair Live Video

Atletico Madrid went clear at the top of the table on Wednesday, when they defeated Getafe 1-0.

Real Madrid could only draw at Elche, so Atletico's win saw them move two points clear, with two games in hand. With Real Madrid in action on Saturday, Atletico may go into this game in second place, but it would be a surprise if Diego Simeone's team failed to hold their nerve.

The win over Getafe saw Atletico keep their tenth clean sheet from 14 La Liga games this season. Any team with a defence so miserly will be in with a chance of regularly winning games and challenging for the title. Atletico have often been let down by their lack of scoring power in recent years, but currently they have 27 goals in La Liga, which is the third highest total, only two behind top ranked Barcelona.

Only four teams have scored less that Alaves this season, which is not good news when hosting Atletico. An Atletico win and under 2.5 goals is 3.1.

Huesca can keep it tight

Huesca 6.8 v Barcelona 1.51; The Draw 5.2
Sunday 3 January, 20:00
Live on LaLigaTV and Betfair Live Video

Barcelona need to bounce back with a win when they travel to Huesca on Sunday night.

Ronald Koeman's team drew 1-1 at home to Eibar on Tuesday. For a team that have been heavily reliant on their form at the Camp Nou, it was a disappointing result, especially as they had drawn their previous home match against Valencia.

Now they need to make up for that on the road. That's not always proved easy for Barca over the past couple of seasons. They won their last away match 3-0 at Real Valladolid, ending a four game run without an away victory in La Liga (D1 L3).

Huesca are bottom of La Liga, but at home could cause Barcelona more issues than you might expect. They have only lost one of their last six home games (W1 D4) and held Atletico to a 0-0 draw in September. At the very least Huesca look able to keep it tight and under 2.5 goals is 2.6.