Real Betis v Barcelona Betting Preview – La Liga 21st January 7.45pm
Real Betis can be really pleased with the work that they have put into their season recently. They have won their two games coming back from the winter break and they head into the weekend in seventh place in the Spanish top flight. Barcelona though have stretched out to a five-match winning streak now and appear to be on cruise control towards the title. They were challenged hard last weekend against Sociedad but still managed to get the three points. They are likely to stop the positive form of Betis.
Real Betis v Barcelona Betting Tips
It has been a pretty good season for Betis who are heading into the weekend in the top eight. Recently they landed themselves a big win out at Seville to help pull themselves closer in touch to the top six. They have won three of their last four now in the top flight and have won their last two. They have rattled off the eight goals in total in their last two games too, putting five past Sevilla in a great win before following it with three goals against the tough defence of Leganes last weekend. So that’s been a high output and they have scored at least two goals in seven of their eight league wins this season. Over 3.5 goals at Paddy Power because of that may be a decent enough option to have a look at for the game. They aren’t really running in any great home form, their victory last weekend over Leganes snapping a four-match winless streak that they were on at home and overall they are W5 D2 L3 for the season on home soil in the top flight. They have averaged exactly two goals per game this term at home.
Betis have conceded at a rate of 1.7 goals per game at home and with only the two clean sheets behind them at home, that is where they are going to be vulnerable. Still, it has been a positive season for them as they are five points better off than they were at this stage last season. But then looking at their head to head against Barcelona they are heavily second best and it has been a fair while since they got a win over the Catalans. The last time that Betis did get a win over Barcelona was back in the 2001 Copa Del Rey but still lost the tie on aggregate. Barcelona have posted a W9 D2 record in their last eleven games against Betis in the Spanish top flight. There was a 1-1 draw in this corresponding fixture last season and both teams have scored in nine of the last twelve meetings. So will it be three more points this season for Barcelona as they head to the Estadio Benito Villamarín? The stats suggest so as the Catalans have scored at least two goals in sixteen of their last seventeen fixtures against Betis in all competitions.
Barcelona are still unbeaten in the La Liga season and they have collected a wonderful W8 D2 record from their ten road games, and they are on a three-match winning streak away from home going into this one. They have totalled nine goals in their last three-way games. They had their backs to the wall a little bit last weekend as they found themselves 2-0 down against Sociedad, a side they have had problems beating. But they rallied still to collect a great 4-2 win. That’s what you get when you have the scoring power that they have. Barcelona have tallied 23 away goals this season and have conceded only five, bagging a clean sheet in 60% of their away games, but both teams to score at Paddy Power for 8/15 odds looks the way to roll for this* (Betting Odds taken on January 17th, 2018 at 9:46 p.m.). While Lionel Messi is on a three-match scoring streak, Luis Suarez betters that as he has scored in each of the last six league appearances now and is great value in the anytime goalscorer market for this weekend’s game.
Real Betis v Barcelona Betting Odds*
Barcelona 1/4, Draw 5/1, Betis 9/1* (Betting Odds taken on January 17th, 2018 at 6:55 p.m.)
Real Betis v Barcelona Predictions
Barcelona can still go and get three points here. Even on days when they are not comfortable, like last weekend at Sociedad, they showed enough class and quality to come through for the three points in the end. They will prevail in this one and are good enough to do it by a two-goal margin.
