Barcelona v Alaves Betting Preview – La Liga 18th August 9.15pm
Barcelona being their La Liga title defence with a home fixture at the Nou Camp against Alaves. The Catalans have added a couple of pieces to their squad over the summer but no real mega-blockbuster trades as of yet. They will be facing an Alaves side who finished in the bottom half of the table last term but they gave Barcelona a good run for their money in their meetings nonetheless.
Barcelona v Alaves Betting Tips
Reigning champions of Spain Barcelona are 3/4 odds-on favourites to go and retain their title this season* (Betting Odds were taken from August 15th, 2018 at 5:41 p.m.). They are the ones to catch and last season at the Nou Camp they were unbeaten in La Liga action (W16 D3). Their goal output was high as you can imagine with an average of 2.79 goals per home game and were leading at half time in thirteen home fixtures. But the Barcelona/Barcelona half-time/ full-time option is not offering a great deal of value though at an odds-on price. So for our Barcelona v Alaves predictions we are looking at a Barcelona 2-0 correct score for 11/2 odds* (Betting Odds were taken from August 15th, 2018 at 5:41 p.m.). It is pretty much as-you-were for the Catalans from last season, adding just Arthur, Malcolm and Arturo Vidal to their ranks over the summer.
Alaves could only manage a bottom half of the table finish last season in La Liga. They got themselves off to such a poor start, losing their first six of the season and only going W1 L9 in their opening ten fixtures. So going into this season they would have been hoping for a chance at a positive start, but this is just about the worst fixture they could have received to start with. To be fair to them they did recover well over the second half of the season, but still, they did lose all of their away games against last season’s top four finishers. They managed just one goal across their three away games against the top-three finishers in the league. Under 2.5 goals is at 21/10 odds option* (Betting Odds were taken from August 15th, 2018 at 5:41 p.m.) as we don’t see them getting on the scoresheet but they weren’t overwhelmed by the Catalans last season.
Barcelona v Alaves Head to Head
Barcelona won both meetings last season against Alaves and that extended their winning streak over them to four in a row in all competitions. Two of their last three league victories over them have been with a clean sheet. They don’t have a clean sheet in any of their last four at home against them though.
Barcelona v Alaves Betting Odds*
Barcelona 1/10
Draw 9/1
Alaves 16/1
* (Betting Odds were taken from August 15th, 2018 at 5:41 p.m.)
Barcelona v Alaves Predictions
We have to roll with Barcelona and Barcelona to win to nil for some value in the game. They are probably going to be strong enough on home soil to hold their opposition at arms’ length. Look for a steady performance to open the season with. The Barcelona 2-0 correct score option appeals for our Barcelona v Alaves predictions as well.
