Football Betting Tips: Best Bets from La Liga for Matchday 7

Our Spanish Football expert Mark Sochon is enjoying a profitable spell and he recorded three-from-three for his Best Bets for Matchday Six in La Liga at the weekend.

With a funky midweek Matchday Seven upcoming, he picks out his three Best Bets as he takes us through his Football Betting Tips for the action over in Spain...

Valencia vs Osasuna (Tuesday 18:00) 

There was a much needed victory for Valencia on Saturday, as Rubén Baraja’s side climbed off the foot of the table with the 2-0 defeat of Girona. It ended a 12 game winless streak overall in the Spanish top flight and the performance was much more reminiscent of the Valencia we saw impress for the majority of last season. 

Defensively, it was certainly their strongest performance so far as they restricted Champions League participants Girona to precious few opportunities. It built on an encouraging showing in the draw against local rivals Villarreal in their previous home game, and returning to Mestalla just three days on from their weekend win, serves up a good opportunity for Los Che to truly kick-start their campaign. 

They’ve already faced four of last season’s top five, which goes some way to explaining their slow start. While this is a team with its limitations after another summer where very little money was spent, young talents such as Giorgi Mamardashvili, Cristhian Mosquera and Javi Guerra suggest that this Valencia side should not be written off just yet. 

They are strong in the centre of the pitch with Pepelu, fresh from a recent Spain call-up, key to everything they do and he assisted both goals in the weekend victory. 

Los Che are up against an Osasuna side that is riding high in the top eight, but unlike their opponents, the Pamplona-based club has benefitted from a very favourable set of fixtures so far. That has included home games against Leganés, Las Palmas, Celta Vigo and Mallorca. 

All of their points have come at El Sadar, but their two away games have seen Vicente Moreno’s side concede seven. They had just one attempt in the 4-0 defeat at Girona on matchday three and weren’t much better in a 3-1 defeat at Rayo Vallecano last week. 

With their best defender David García having recently departed to play his football in Qatar, they look much more vulnerable at the back this term. Based on their last two away showings, they may find this tough going against a Valencia side that will be feeling much more confident after their weekend victory.  

I’m backing the hosts to do the business again here, with Valencia available at 23/20 to win the game. 

*You can check out all of the Football Odds we offer over at betfred.com

Espanyol vs Villarreal (Thursday 18:00) 

Two teams who were on the wrong end of heavy weekend defeats against Spain’s “big two” clash on Thursday at the Stage Front Stadium. 

Espanyol were leading at the Santiago Bernabéu early in the Second Half on Saturday, but found themselves on the wrong end of a late Real Madrid goal blitz, falling to a 4-1 defeat. 

There have been some positive signs in their last two home games though. Faced with a frustrating summer in the transfer market where financial restraints prevented them from making any major permanent additions, the newly promoted side at least look to have a competent strike pairing that should cause problems for a leaky Villarreal defence in this game. 

Javi Puado fired in a hat-trick as the Catalans defeated Alavés 3-2 in their most recent outing in front of their own fans. He has formed a promising partnership with Tottenham loanee Alejo Véliz who scored a dramatic late winner in their previous home game against Rayo Vallecano. 

That has eased fears about how they’d replace Martin Braithwaite, who top scored in last season’s Segunda División with 22 goals. Overall though, this is still a team that’s likely to struggle this term and Villarreal will fancy they can create plenty of chances in this match. 

The Yellow Submarine were on the wrong end of a 5-1 scoreline at home to Barcelona on Sunday. That scoreline didn’t tell the whole story of a game that saw Villarreal have three goals chalked off, while the visitors benefited from a couple of deflected strikes. 

Nonetheless, it was ultimately a pretty emphatic way for Villarreal’s unbeaten start to end and it’s clear they still have some significant defensive issues, which was by far their biggest flaw last term. 

There’s a lot to like about their attacking play though with the likes of Álex Baena, Thierno Barry and Ayoze Pérez offering a constant threat. They’ll surely attempt to play on the front foot in this game and it promises to be another really open affair. 

I’m using the Bet Builder to back Over 2.5 Goals and Both teams to score at 1/1, a winning bet in all but one of Villarreal’s matches so far this season. 

*You can check out all of the La Liga Odds we offer over at betfred.com

Celta Vigo vs Atlético Madrid (Thursday 20:00) 

Another of the more eye-catching midweek fixtures in La Liga is at the Estadio de Balaídos where Celta Vigo are playing host to Atlético Madrid. 

If you’ve been searching for entertainment in the Spanish top flight so far this term, Celta matches have been as good a place as any to look. Their six fixtures have produced a grand total of 27 goals with their young coach Claudio Giráldez sending out what is largely a young team to play without fear and chase victories. 

21-year-old academy graduates Javi Rodríguez, Damián Rodríguez and Hugo Álvarez are three of the six Celta players to have clocked up the most minutes. It has been quite a radical approach in comparison to the conservative reign of Rafa Benitez last season, but it has yielded three wins out of six with 14 goals scored. 

Celta do however, have the joint worst defensive record in the division heading into the midweek fixtures in La Liga. With no sign that Giráldez is likely to alter his approach to compensate for strong opposition here, Atleti’s attacking players should get space to operate in. 

Diego Simeone has some fresh talent to call upon this term with strikers Alexander Sørloth and Julián Alvarez on board, while Conor Gallagher has already netted twice, including the equaliser in a 1-1 draw at Rayo Vallecano on Sunday night. 

Unquestionably though, Atleti’s most important attacking player is still Antoine Griezmann. He put in a sparkling display to inspire a 2-1 comeback win over RB Leipzig in the Champions League last week and has registered three goals and three assists already this term for Los Rojiblancos. 

Having been rested at the weekend, it seems certain that Griezmann will return to the starting lineup here for the trip to Balaídos. It’s a setting that will bring back good memories for the Frenchman who scored a hat-trick in a 3-0 Atlético win on this ground last season. 

After also netting on each of his last two starts for the club, I’m backing Antoine Griezmann to score anytime at 9/5 here. 

Mark Sochon primarily covers Spanish Football for us at Betfred Insights. 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...