Getafe - Athletic Club
The first match of the round 20 will be played between Getafe and Athletic Club at the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez where Getafe has looked unbeatable this season. At home Getafe has been so so solid, and is the fourth best team at home! The midfielder Markel Bergara will finally be back for Getafe this game, and there is no other injuries or suspensions for the home team this Friday. Athletic will miss some players in this game.
Kepa Arrizabalaga is still out and Iker Muniain the same, Mikel San Jose, Yeray Álvarez, Kike Sola, Oscar De Marcos, Mikel Balenziaga and Ager Aketxe will be out for this game. I am not expecting a lot of goals in this game, but maybe Getafe is small favorites in this game because of the injures Athletic have. I would go for a slight Getafe-win here even though Athletic is in good form and hasn’t lost in eight games now coming from a draw away to Espanyol. Getafe continued their good form and won against Málaga 1-0 at home.
Espanyol - Sevilla
The early kick-off Saturday will be between two teams very hard to understand. Espanyol have now beaten Atlético Madrid and Barcelona (this week in the Copa del Rey) in the last few weeks and haven’t lost in the last four games, but considering their season last year it has been a disappoint season for the Espanyol-fans down as number 14.
Sevilla on the other side isn’t very much better. They sacked their manager Eduardo Berizzo some weeks ago, but is probably the most inconsistent team in the league this season. Montella started with a win against Cadiz in the cup, but then lost to Betis at home in the Sevilla-derby. Then they qualified in the cup, but then again lost to Alavés this weekend looking pretty bad. And yet again they surprised with a strong result winning at the Metropolitano away to Atlético Madrid in the Copa del Rey. A loss coming this weekend then?
Sergio Sánchez, Aarón Martín, José Jurado and Pablo Piatti will miss this game for Espanyol, and Nicolas Pareja and Daniel Carriço will miss the game for the away sides.
- My prediction for this game is a draw, but it’s a very open game in my opinion so it’s hard to guess something from this game.
Atlético Madrid - Girona
Diego Costa is back! Three goals in four games for the striker who is now back after missing the game against Eibar last weekend. 2018 has started good for Atlético, but at home against Sevilla this Wednesday in the cup, it was a disappointing night for the Madrid-team losing 2-1 at home.
Girona at the other side impresses every week right now. 6-0 against Las Palmas last weekend! 6-0! Their biggest victory in the La Liga-history, and is tenth at the table which is very impressive by the promoted side. Atlético will be without Diego Godin, Filipe Luis, Augusto and the out of favor Nico Gaitán, but will be happy with Costa coming back. The away side will miss Pedro Alcalá, Aleix García, Eloi Amagat, but the big blow will definitely be missing their striker Cristhian Stuani who has had a great season upfront scoring 10 goals.
I expect Atlético to win this game, and maybe Diego Costa will be the man this weekend too. Hopefully for the Atlético-fans, Antoine Griezmann will start to deliver soon again. They will need Griezmann in form if they want to compete at the highest level the rest of the season.
Villarreal - Levante
For the first time in La Liga, Villarreal did the «impossible» last weekend winning 1-0 at the Bernabeu in a game they probably was a bit lucky in especially the first half. Sergio Asenjo had a great game in goal yet again, and in the 88th minute Pablo Fornals secured the three points for the Yellow Submarine in a very strong victory away. This game the surely will be favorites coming from this win, but they haven’t been so solid at home the last few games. Just two wins in the last five at home in the league, but before that they didn’t loose since Eibar in April.
Villarreal will here play a sinking ship which has three losses in a row, and just two points in the last five games in this league, scoring only one goal. I can’t see Levante be taking points here, but luckily for the team their top scorer from last season Roger Martí is back, and there is not the most important players missing out (Iván López, Raúl Fernández, Toño, Samuel García, Alegria and Nano)
Villarreal have had so many injuries this season, but things are finally starting to look better. Bacca will be out due to supension, and Andrés Fernández, Sansone, Roberto Soriano, Ruben Semedo and Bruno Soriano will be missing due to injuries.
- I can’t see Levante taking points here, so I would go for a win to Villarreal at home.
Las Palmas - Valencia
Welcome back to La Liga, Paco Jémez! No points in his first two games, being humiliated away to Girona last weekend 6-0, and being knocked out of Copa del Rey by Valencia. Things are not looking good for the team, and right now I can’t see them staying up this season, with only Jonathan Viera deserving to play La Liga. Their winger Momo will be out for this game, while their right back Michel Macedo will still be out. Hernán Santana, Alberto Aquilani and Pedro Bigas will also miss this game.
Las Palmas will not get some easy points this weekend either and they are meeting a very strong Valencia-team in good form with four wins in a row. They have not played that good in the last two games against Deportivo away, and now this Wednesday against Alavés in the Copa del Rey where I would say they were a bit lucky. Murillo will continue to miss another game for Valencia, and now also. Gaya, Dani Parejo and Soler will be out for this game. Some important absence for this weekend!
Without the missing players I would definitely go for a Valencia-win, but these are so important for this team, so I am a bit in doubt for this game. Maybe it could be a draw here?
- My betting picks for this weekend:
Getafe - Athletic Club, over 9.5 corners @ 1.73 - 7 units
Villarreal - Levante, Villarreal - 1 @ 1.83 - 6 units
Units 1/10
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