Weekend Football Betting Tips: Best Bets from MD34 in La Liga

Our Spanish football expert was a Williot Swedberg shot away from a clean sweep for his Best Bets for Matchday 33 but he still went two for three and put up a profitable day for those who follow his tips.

Once more he picks out his three Best Bets for the week as we head into Matchday 34 in La Liga and Mark Sochon's Weekend Football Betting Tips...

We’re into the final five matchdays in La Liga and the race for European places is heating up. Athletic Club, Real Sociedad and Atlético Madrid are all in action over the next couple of days and all will be hungry for maximum points in pursuit of Champions League and Europa League qualification.

Getafe vs Athletic Club (Friday 20:00)

Athletic Club were slight favourites ahead of Atlético Madrid in the battle for fourth place only a few weeks back, but the Basques have let their foot off the gas at the most crucial point in the season.

It’s easy to point to their Copa del Rey triumph last month and the wild celebrations that followed as a factor in that, but Ernesto Valverde and his team will most likely also point to one or two controversial decisions that have gone against them, particularly in the recent home draw against Villarreal.

They competed reasonably well in the big top four showdown with Atleti last weekend but a 3-1 defeat at the Estadio Metropolitano leaves them winless in four league games and most likely looking at Europa rather than Champions League qualification.

They have only won five of their 16 away fixtures and with midfield regulars Oihan Sancet and Íñigo Ruiz de Galarreta expected to be missing through injury, they’ll do well to improve on that record here.

Getafe don’t lose many games at the Coliseum with just two league defeats on the ground since boss José Bordalás returned a year ago. They’ll take confidence from a 3-1 win at bottom club Almería last weekend with Mason Greenwood scoring twice, but with top scorer Borja Mayoral sidelined through injury, Getafe are very reliant on the Englishman for attacking inspiration right now.

This game is likely to be a good deal tighter and it’s hard to see many goals in this game. Getafe have tended to play quite defensively in home fixtures against the stronger sides and it’s delivered good results, with just one defeat in seven home games against teams currently above them in the table.

There were two or fewer goals in all of those games and I’m using the #PickYourPunt tool to back Under 2.5 Goals and Double Chance - Getafe or Draw at 7/5 here.

Real Sociedad vs Las Palmas (Saturday 13:00)

As an out-of-form side with nothing to play for, based on the popular holiday island of Gran Canaria, it’s all too easy to refer to Las Palmas as being “on the beach” but their players are doing little to dispel that notion.

It’s six straight defeats in La Liga with only one goal scored and 12 conceded over that period. While almost whatever happens over the final five games, this will go down as a successful return to the top flight for the Canarians, this drastic slump in form has certainly taken some of the shine off things.

Truth to be told, it’s probably more a case of them overachieving in the first half of the season than it is them underachieving now. This is not a squad with any truly consistent goal threats and none of their forwards have registered more than three goals in La Liga.

Goalkeeper Álvaro Valles frequently got them out of trouble earlier in the campaign but even he has been guilty of the odd shaky moment in recent weeks and right now, there is little reason to feel positive about Las Palmas’ chances at the Reale Arena on Saturday afternoon.

Real Sociedad have their own flaws in attack, which look set to limit them to at best Europa League qualification this season after last year’s top four finish. They must be regretting not signing up Villarreal’s 17-goal striker Alexander Sørloth who was on loan in San Sebastian last term, as they have struggled up top with none of their strikers getting close to filling the void left by the Norwegian.

However, this is still a team that should have enough to get past an unconvincing Las Palmas side with home advantage. They’ve got midfielder Brais Méndez fit again which adds a bit more to their overall goal threat and with the likes of Take Kubo, Mikel Oyarzabal and Ander Barrenetxea in attack, they look capable of breaking down their opponents at some point and I’m going with Real Sociedad to win to nil at 19/20.

Mallorca vs Atlético Madrid (Saturday 20:00)

Atlético Madrid are looking good to clinch fourth place and another season in the UEFA Champions League but that’s almost entirely down to their impressive home record.

Diego Simeone’s side have picked up more points than anyone else in front of their own fans, yet only nine sides have picked up fewer away points. It’s an enormous difference and one that doesn’t really have a rational explanation.

It’s now exactly 50% of Atleti’s away league fixtures that have ended in defeat this season after their recent 2-0 loss at Alavés. Things have got so bad, that it's almost impossible to feel confident about their chances in any game outside of their own stadium.

While Mallorca are not in great form, the same could have been said about Alavés who had lost three on the bounce before beating Los Colchoneros while Cádiz had gone more than six months without a league victory prior to a 2-0 home win over Atlético in March.

Mallorca are in relegation danger but they’ll take confidence from a 1-1 draw at Cádiz last time out which maintained their six point advantage on the relegation zone. They’ve beaten Girona

twice and held Barcelona on this ground already this season, so despite their lowly league position, the Copa del Rey runners up are normally competitive at home.

They’ll most likely look to exploit Atlético Madrid’s central defensive issues with some direct stuff up to big striker Vedat Muriqi and they could have some success with that approach.

With Antoine Griezmann, by far Atleti’s most dangerous attacking player, suspended, I like the look of Mallorca at 11/4 in the Match Result market here.

You can check out Mark's La Liga Betting Tips along with those from the rest of the Betfred Insights Spanish Football writers on our La Liga home page...