Real Betis Vs Real Sociedad
Real Betis Vs Real Sociedad Sunday 18th October 2020 – 20:00 kick-off
Spanish La Liga
Pick: Under 2.5 Goals
Odds: 20/21
Bookmaker: BetVictor
(All betting odds correct at time of writing: 16th October 2020)
Preview: Last up in La Liga this weekend is a meeting between two of this season’s brightest performers early on. Real Betis are unbeaten across the four previous head-to-heads at their Benito Villamarin, which includes a 3-0 victory in 2019-20, and go into Sunday’s contest as favourites against Real Sociedad.
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Table of Contents
Real Betis Preview – Pellegrini appointment bearing early fruit?
Finishing last season in fifteenth was not what this club had envisaged, particularly after an active summer in the transfer market. Nabil Fekir was the big name arrival then. Now, though, the excitement surrounds a change of manager, with Manuel Pellegrini – a former Premier League winner with Man City but whose most recent spell in charge of West Ham fell flat – brought in to revitalise a team of underachievers.
The appointment of such an experienced head appears to have had the desired effect initially. The 67-year-old overseeing three wins, all of them ‘to nil’, over Alaves (0-1), Valladolid (2-0) and Valencia (2-0), as well as defeats to Getafe (3-0) and Real Madrid (2-3). In the latter, Betis fought back from 1-0 down to take a 2-1 lead but were always up against it once reduced to ten men midway through the second period.
There is no disgrace in losing to the reigning Spanish champions though, and they had given themselves every chance of securing a big result prior to the red card. So for that to be their only blemish at home this season can only be a positive heading into another home encounter this weekend. Meanwhile in 2019-20, Real Betis ranked fourth for goals scored (34) but eighteenth for goals conceded (27) in La Liga home games.
Real Sociedad Preview – Inconsistency still a major problem?
La Real had to be content with a sixth place finish in 2019-20, but it could, and maybe even should, have been so much better. Imanol Alguacil’s men simply never got going after the league restarted in June, closing out a promising season with only two wins from their final eleven league games as they scraped into the Europa League. A competition that gets underway for them on Thursday with a trip to Croatia.
Initially, then, it seemed the team was still in the hangover phase when opening 2020-21 with back-to-back draws. After coming from behind away to Valladolid (1-1) they somehow held Real Madrid to a goalless encounter in San Sebastian, in what was probably a fair outcome in a game of few meaningful chances. Victories over Elche (0-3) and Getafe (3-0) followed, either side of a narrow 1-0 loss at home to Valencia.
A fairly mixed start therefore. However, by beating Getafe last time out before the international break, in what was a thoroughly impressive display on their own patch (xG: SOC 2.71 – 0.28 GET), suddenly an opportunity to register successive league wins for the first time since February presents itself, while the three points all but guarantee that they head into the Europa League in midweek on a high in second in La Liga.
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Real Betis Vs Real Sociedad Betting Advice
Between them they have accrued five wins from ten in La Liga this season, with Real Betis contributing three. All five, however, were recorded without conceding a goal, so this might suggest a cagey affair inside Benito Villamarin. The four previous meetings here in league and cup produced a paltry four goals, with the majority of those coming last season in a 3-0 win for the home side.
Real Betis Vs Real Sociedad – Key Facts
- In La Liga in 2019-20, 9 of the 10 victories Real Betis earned came when playing at their Benito Villamarin residence in Andalusia.
- The last time Real Sociedad managed to win successive games in La Liga was last February (18 games). They registered a 3-0 win at home to Getafe in the last round.
- None of the past four meetings (league and cup) at Benito Villamarin, the home of Real Betis, featured goals for both teams, with the hosts unbeaten in that time (W2 D2).
Real Sociedad, who are unbeaten across five away La Liga games now (W2 D3), last won a league fixture away to Real Betis in 2017. In four subsequent visits they have failed to even score (D2 L2). Therefore, the hosts on this occasion probably deserve to be favourites, particularly as their record on home soil has been relatively strong since the start of last season (W10 D4 L7). Real Betis To Nil is a general 7/2.
Best Betting Odds – Real Betis Vs Real Sociedad
Real Betis – 6/4 (Unibet)
Draw – 12/5 (BetFred)
Real Sociedad – 19/10 (Bet365)
