Weekend La Liga Betting Tips: Three Best Bets from Matchday 21

Matchday 21 is upon us and as always, our Spanish Football expert is here with his three Best Bets ahead of the games in Spain this weekend...

La Liga is back with a full fixture list this weekend. Girona will stay top if they can see off struggling Sevilla on Sunday while there’s a big game at Mestalla on Saturday as two form teams meet with Athletic Club riding high in 3rd place and targeting Champions League qualification.

Before any of that, there’s a significant Friday night clash at the bottom with Cadiz boss Sergio tipped to lose his job if his team loses again away to Alaves.

Rayo Vallecano vs Las Palmas (Saturday 13:00)

Saturday’s action kicks off at the Estadio Vallecas where Rayo Vallecano have only won one league game all season.

There isn’t a huge amount wrong with their football but putting the ball in the net has been a problem throughout the campaign with strikers Raul De Tomas and Sergio Camello misfiring. Both were goalless in the league heading into the new year, although the latter finally broke his duck with a brace against Getafe in Rayo’s only league game of 2024 so far.

By Saturday, that will have been 18 days ago with Rayo one of the teams that has been messed around by cancelled league fixtures as a result of the Supercopa’s annual voyage to Saudi Arabia. They have been in Copa del Rey action over that period but they were 3-0 down inside half an hour against Girona on Wednesday and on that evidence, it’s hard to justify their status as such clear favourites for this game.

Las Palmas are having an excellent season on their return to the top flight with the impressive Kirian Rodriguez scoring a brace from midfield as they swept Villarreal aside 3-0 last weekend.

They’ve competed well in every game they’ve played this term, losing by more than a single goal on only one occasion and that was against Real Madrid. Garcia Pimienta’s possession-based approach is ensuring they get a real foothold in games and it’s also helping to limit the number of chances opposing teams can create and only Los Blancos can better their defensive record.

With Rayo struggling to put the ball in the net and short on confidence at home, the visitors have got every chance of coming away with another good result here. I’m backing Draw or Las Palmas Double Chance at 5/6.

Valencia vs Athletic Club (Saturday 17:30)

This is one of the most eye-catching fixtures this weekend and both teams should approach the game feeling confident with Valencia having won their last three in La Liga while Athletic Club have reeled off four straight victories to gatecrash the top four.

There’s plenty to like about Athletic right now and even the absence of joint top scorer Iñaki Williams, who is away on AFCON duty, does not seem to have reduced their goal threat. His

replacement in the team was the hero last weekend with Alex Berenguer bagging both goals in a 2-1 Basque derby victory over Real Sociedad.

Even back-up striker Asier Villalibre scored a brace in the cup in midweek and they have form players right across the team and in reserve, which bodes well for their chances of maintaining this top four push.

These clubs played out a 2-2 draw in Bilbao earlier in the season and I can see this producing chances at each end too. Valencia have thrown a bit more caution to the wind in recent weeks, operating with two strikers instead of one and they’ve been rewarded with 3-1 and 4-1 victories in their last two league games.

That should give them the kind of confidence to approach this game positively and that points to an open game as right now Athletic will certainly come here targeting three points as opposed to the one they might have settled for last season.

As a result, I think we should get a good game and I’m backing Both Teams to Score at 4/5.

Osasuna vs Getafe (Sunday 13:00)

This is the appetiser on Sunday in La Liga with the three title favourites all in action later in the day. It’s fair to say that even the biggest Spanish football fans may skip straight to the main course with the last four meetings between these sides in Pamplona producing just three goals in total.

It’s hard to see this game being any more entertaining. Osasuna have tightened up defensively in recent weeks and will take heart from 1-0 wins over Rayo Vallecano and Almeria in their last two home games.

They’d struggled to build up any real momentum at home prior to that, but they’ll fancy their chances of grinding out another win here with Getafe missing three players to suspension including forwards Juanmi Latasa and Jaime Mata.

Pepe Bordalas’ side are having a good season, but it does feel like they’ve dropped off slightly after a really strong end to 2023. They’ve only played three games so far this month, losing at home to out-of-form sides in the shape of Rayo Vallecano in La Liga and Sevilla in the Copa del Rey. They did win at second tier Espanyol in the previous round, but it’s just two goals so far this calendar year in all competitions for Getafe.

With home advantage and with Getafe having only won two of their last 23 away league games, Osasuna look the more likely victors here, although their goal threat is also reduced by the likely absence of Chimy Avila once more.

Given that, I’m going to head into the #PickYourPunt builder and back Osasuna or Draw Double Chance & Under 2.5 Goals at 4/5.

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...