Football Betting Tips: Best Bets from La Liga with Mark, Matchday 31

Our Spanish football expert lines up some firm fancies ahead of this week's La Liga action.

La Liga Odds

Football Odds

Real Sociedad vs Mallorca (Saturday 13:00)

Saturday’s action kicks off at the Reale Arena with a meeting between two teams that are chasing European places.

Real Sociedad should go on to clinch either a Conference or Europa League place from this position. They’ve been pretty disappointing in La Liga this season overall, and have largely struggled to score goals, but they’ve had 18 cup fixtures which has frequently meant that Imanol Alguacil has left key players out in the league.

With no more cup distractions, and with some of their attacking players finally finding a bit of form, they’ve looked much better in the final third in recent weeks. They’ve netted nine times in their three matches since the international break, including four at the Santiago Bernabéu in an extraordinary 4-4 draw in the second leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final.

Mikel Oyarzabal netted twice in that game, and La Real’s main forward option has now scored six in his last four appearances for club and country, having also got on the scoresheet at Las Palmas last time out in a 3-1 victory.

Up against, La Liga’s other island club this weekend, Real Sociedad will fancy their chances of continuing this improved run of form, and it does feel like Imanol has taken the handbrake off to some extent in recent weeks, with criticism over a lack of goals leading to speculation about his future beyond this season.

La Real do have some significant selection issues at the other end of the pitch though. They are missing Igor Zubeldia and Nayef Aguerd to injuries, meaning they’ll start this game without their two regular centre-backs.

Mallorca are missing their main striker Vedat Muriqi. That’s a blow for the visitors, but there was a spell earlier in the season when Muriqi was absent, and they played some slightly more expansive football, with their natural tendency being to go long whenever the big Kosovo frontman starts.

Cyle Larin is the most likely replacement for Muriqi and he’ll look to stretch an under-strength home defence with his pace, with Sergi Darder and Dani Rodríguez likely to offer the main support.

While they haven’t been scoring loads of goals, both teams have scored in seven of the last eight Mallorca matches, and I’m backing Both teams to score at long odds of 11/8 here.

Celta Vigo vs Espanyol (Saturday 17:30)

Two of the form teams in Spain meet at Balaídos on Saturday, with Celta Vigo and Espanyol both fresh from excellent away victories on what was the first La Liga matchday in 19 years to not serve up a single home win.

Celta will still be happy to get back to Galicia where they’ve been so strong this term, with nine wins from 15 home fixtures the foundation that has given them an excellent chance of going on to clinch European football.

There’s a real feel-good factor at the club right now, with Claudio Giráldez’s bold strategy to place faith in a large number of players he previously worked with during his time as B-team boss really paying off.

Some of them are not even that young, such as 25-year-old Alfon who is one of a number of current first-teamers who was playing third-tier football with Celta B last term. With goals in three of his last four matches, Alfon is suddenly one of Celta’s main attacking weapons, but they have real depth in the final third, with the more experienced forwards Iago Aspas and Borja Iglesias, competing for minutes along with youngsters Pablo Durán, Fer López, Iker Losada and Williot Swedberg.

With so many options, Giráldez’s starting line-ups change from week to week, and he always has players who can come off the bench to change games. With only Atlético Madrid leaving Balaídos with a clean sheet this season, it’s hard to see Celta not scoring at some point in this game against relegation-threatened opposition.

Espanyol are a much-improved side though and they are now asking far more questions of opposing defences than was the case earlier on in the campaign.

They’ve netted at least once in all 11 matches they’ve played so far in 2025, with January addition Roberto Fernández giving their attack a major boost. His presence is making it much tougher for opposing defences to shut Manolo González’s side out.

The Catalans would have been on cloud nine this week after a stunning 4-0 win away to European hopefuls Rayo Vallecano last time out. They are clearly playing with a lot more belief now and they’ll fancy their chances of at least getting on the scoresheet in this game.

Given that, I’m backing Both teams to score at 1/1 here, a winning bet in 67% of Celta’s home league fixtures this term.

Atlético Madrid vs Real Valladolid (Monday 20:00)

The Monday night action comes from the Estadio Metropolitano, but it doesn’t look like it will be much of a contest as Atlético Madrid play host to La Liga’s bottom club.

Atleti will have a close eye on what Barcelona and Real Madrid do this weekend, but they were granted a glimmer of hope in the title race by events on the previous matchday.

Having taken only one point from three matches prior to their trip to Sevilla, and following two painful cup exits, it was starting to look like the season of Diego Simeone’s side had completely unravelled.

However, with the top two both dropping points at home, and with Pablo Barrios firing in a fine late winner for Atleti at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán, there is just a glimmer of hope again.

While they are still going to need a large number of favours elsewhere, Atlético Madrid do have a really favourable run-in and they’ll back themselves to put a long winning streak together again, having reeled off a club record 15 victories on the bounce in all competitions earlier this term.

They may need to win every game to stand any chance, and if they don’t win this one, they really don’t deserve to be getting their hands on any silverware this season.

Real Valladolid are quite simply one of the worst teams in La Liga history. Their return of 16 points from 30 matches if anything flatters them, and they head into this matchday as the Spanish top flight’s lowest scorers by a 10-goal margin, as well as the team with the worst defensive record by an 18-goal margin.

Their four matches so far against top-three opposition have seen them lose by a combined aggregate score of 18-0, and that includes the 5-0 hammering they suffered at the hands of Atleti at the José Zorrilla earlier in the season.

Caretaker boss Álvaro Rubio has the unenviable task of trying to lift his troops after their latest setback, a 4-0 home defeat against Getafe. That match ended with two of his own players nearly coming to blows on the bench, and while their relegation has yet to be mathematically confirmed, this season cannot end soon enough for Real Valladolid.

The Atleti attack has to be looking forward to this one, particularly Julián Alvarez who is having an impressive first year in Spain with 24 goals in all competitions, including a penalty at Sevilla last time out.

This game should only go in one direction, and I’m using the Bet Builder to back Atlético Madrid to score over 2.5 goals and Julián Alvarez to score anytime at 13/10.

Football Betting Tips from Betfred Insights.