Weekend Football Betting Tips: Best Bets from La Liga for Matchday 30

Matchday 30 is here and La Liga has a full slate of action before the lull in proceedings next week due to the Copa Del Rey Final.

As always, our Spanish Football expert Mark Sochon has gone through the betting markets and picked out his three Best Bets for the action in Spain's top-flight. He went one for three a week ago, so here's hoping he's back on the profit side for his Weekend Football Betting Tips from La Liga...

La Liga returns from the international break with some important games at both ends of the table. There are bottom six showdowns in Cadiz and Vigo while the matchday concludes on Monday night with resurgent Villarreal hosting an Atlético Madrid side that has a real fight on its hands just to make the top four.

Getafe vs Sevilla (Saturday 13:00)

The first game on Saturday comes from the Coliseum and it features a Sevilla side that remains in the relegation picture after they suffered a surprise home defeat against fellow strugglers Celta Vigo last time out.

That result certainly feels like it has put a stop to the momentum that was slowly building for Quique Sanchez Flores’ side who had only lost one of their previous seven games in the league in an otherwise miserable season for the Europa League holders.

This game feels like it will most probably be a tight affair. Sevilla have set up quite conservatively in many of their recent away games and they’ll most likely see a draw as a pretty good result here. We can expect them to set up with three central defenders again and that should help them thwart what’s often a direct approach from Getafe.

The home team are missing top scorer Borja Mayoral to injury. The 15-goal striker has netted more than 40% of Getafe’s league goals this season so that’s obviously a significant absentee and Pepe Bordalas opted to respond to that by stacking the midfield against Girona a fortnight ago and playing with Oscar Rodriguez, who is by no means a striker, as the number nine.

It was a plan that worked as Getafe ground out a 1-0 win against the high-flying Catalans, their fourth home victory by that margin this season. They’ve only lost one league game at the Coliseum since Bordalas returned to the club last April which is a measure of the task facing Sevilla here.

It’s hard to see the visitors winning what’s likely to be quite a low-scoring game and I’m using the #PickYourPunt tool to back Under 2.5 Goals and Double Chance - Getafe or Draw at 6/5.

Valencia vs Mallorca (Saturday 17:30)

Valencia are another team who’ve been really strong at home this season with eight wins and only two league defeats at Mestalla. Not bad for a side that only just stayed afloat last term and was widely expected to struggle again this year.

Ruben Baraja has done a good job of constructing a young team that’s really strong in the middle of the park with Pepelu, Javi Guerra and Hugo Guillamon competing for the central places.

They have suffered an injury blow with captain Jose Luis Gaya set to miss this match, but most things point to them having enough to beat a Mallorca side that has only won once away from home all season in La Liga.

The visitors will also have one eye on next weekend’s Copa del Rey Final which will see them travel to Seville to take on Athletic Club in what will be a huge game for both teams. While Mallorca boss Javier Aguirre will be publicly stressing the need to focus on this game, it’d be only natural for some of his players to already be thinking about an unexpected shot at silverware.

Aguirre himself may make some alterations with the Final in mind. Cup goalkeeper Dominik Greif may be given a runout to ensure he gets 90 minutes under his belt and with Mallorca currently boasting an eight point cushion on the relegation zone, it’s pretty clear that this game is of secondary importance compared to the one a week from now.

That serves up a good opportunity for the hosts to further their European ambitions and while Mallorca are defensively sound enough to frustrate their hosts for long periods of this game, there still looks to be value in going with Valencia to Win at 11/10.

Villarreal vs Atlético Madrid (Monday 20:00)

This should be a good watch on Monday night with Villarreal one of the most entertaining teams in Spain right now and they’re more than capable of taking the game to an Atlético Madrid side that is hard to make much sense of.

On their day, Diego Simeone’s team are capable of beating just about anyone. They’re the only team to have beaten Real Madrid in any competition this season and they’ve done it twice, while they got the better of runaway Serie A leaders Inter Milan over two legs in the Champions League.

Yet that same team has lost half of its away league fixtures and faces a real battle just to make it back into the Champions League, after an unbeaten home run of more than a year in La Liga came to a crushing end with a 3-0 loss against Barcelona just prior to the international break.

Atleti’s last away game ended in a desperate 2-0 defeat against a Cadiz side that had gone more than six months without winning in the league and the omens don’t look particularly good here for Los Rojiblancos. They’re missing Rodrigo De Paul and Nahuel Molina to suspensions and are dealing with the severe loss of form from the likes of Álvaro Morata and Saul Niguez.

Villarreal have to fancy their chances. They’re one of the form teams in La Liga right now with four straight wins propelling them into European contention. They’ve beaten the likes of Barcelona and Real Sociedad since the turn of the year and a really strong strike duo of Gerard Moreno and Alexander Sorloth should ensure an unconvincing Atleti defence endures another tricky night at the Estadio Ceramica.

Those Villarreal forwards are getting good service from the likes of Alex Baena and Dani Parejo and while there are still some defensive flaws in Marcelino’s side, they’re a much improved outfit when compared to the opening half of the season. I’m backing Villarreal Draw No Bet at 5/4 for this Monday night offering from Spain.

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...