Soccer Betting Odds: La Liga Matchday 5 Preview
Can Real Madrid Stay Perfect?
Real Betis Clash With Villarreal in Top Four Battle
The La Liga season is heating up as both Real Madrid and Barcelona are rounding into top form. There have also been some big surprises, like Sevilla hovering around the relegation zone and Osasuna in fifth. Only time will tell whether these trends will continue but they’re interesting, nonetheless. Two big storylines heading into the weekend are Real Madrid’s perfect record and Real Betis vs Villarreal. We’ll cover them and look at for some of the biggest games odds of the weekend in our La Liga Matchday 5 preview.
Cadiz vs Barcelona:
Cadiz’s start to the 2022-23 La Liga season has been less than ideal, to put it lightly. They’re the only La Liga side to lose their opening four matches and fail to score a goal. Things don’t get any easier for them as they welcome Barcelona to Andalusia on Saturday.
Our La Liga Matchday 5 preview identifies this as the weekend fixture that’s expected to be the most lopsided. Barcelona has scored at least three goals in each of their last four matches in all competitions. That includes a midweek Champions League win over Viktoria Plzen, in which they scored three goals in the first half. Barcelona is favored to cover the 1½-goal spread, at -140 odds. Their Moneyline also stands at -400 but, interestingly, they’re not expected to continue their three-goal streak. Barcelona under 2½ goals currently sits at -135 odds.
Cadiz has been outscored 7-0 in their last two matches and is +1200 home underdogs. They’re implied to be more likely to be shutout, once again, at -120 odds. Incredibly, Cadiz is unbeaten in their last four matches vs Barcelona, though. Cadiz tends to show up for this match but they’ve never faced Robert Lewandowski up front before. Barcelona’s Lewandowski scored a midweek hat trick and leads La Liga with five goals.
Atletico Madrid vs Celta Vigo:
The good news for Atletico Madrid fans is that goalkeeper Jan Oblak seems to be okay after departing last Saturday’s match. Oblak collided with teammate Reinildo Mandava but only suffered bruising in the end. Atletico host Celta Vigo on Saturday with both teams boasting golden boot candidates.
Atleti’s Alvaro Morata has scored three goals since returning from his two-year loan at Juventus. Meanwhile, Celta all-time leading scorer Iago Aspas already has found the net five times this season. Despite his goal-scoring prowess and a two-game winning streak, the visitors are +475 underdogs. Atletico drew with Real Sociedad last Saturday and will be trying to get their first home win of the season in this one.
Atletico Madrid is -160 favorites and is unbeaten in their last seven matches vs Celta Vigo. Although, three of those matches have finished in draws, and a draw sits at +285 odds for Saturday’s match. Celta is looking for a second straight road win as they defeated Girona 1-0 last weekend.
Real Madrid vs Mallorca: Sunday, 8 a.m.
Defending champions Real Madrid are on top of the Spanish La Liga standings through four matches. They’re currently the only team in Europe’s top five leagues still carrying a perfect league record. They also opened up their Champions League title defense in style, with a 3-0 win at Celtic.
This Sunday, Real Madrid host Mallorca in La Liga. The Islanders very narrowly avoided relegation in La Liga last season but have started 2022-23 positively. They only have one loss through four matches and are conceding under a goal per game. This will be by far their toughest test of the season so far, though. The odds certainly show it, as Real Madrid are -400 home favorites with an over/under team total of 2½ goals.
Real Madrid has scored at least two goals in all of their matches this season, including the Champions League and UEFA Super Cup. The 1½-goal favorites also outscored Mallorca by a combined 9-1 scoreline last season. Mallorca did manage to defeat Real Madrid 1-0 back in 2019 but they’re +1100 underdogs come Sunday.
Real Betis vs Villarreal:
Both Real Betis and Villarreal are in action on Thursday, in the Europa League and Europa Conference League, respectively. They’ll regroup for a couple of days before meeting for the first time this season, on Sunday. With two current top four teams on display, our La Liga Matchday 5 preview identifies this fixture as the match of the week.
Unai Emery’s Villarreal grabbed all three points vs Betis on both occasions last season. In fact, they didn’t concede a goal and won both matches 2-0. Villarreal has only lost one of their last six matches vs Real Betis and is priced at +165 odds. Betis also sit at +165 odds and a draw is listed at +245 odds.
Amazingly, Villarreal is yet to concede a goal this season. La Liga’s third-place team comes into this match with three wins and a draw. Betis remained competitive with Real Madrid last weekend but ultimately fell 2-1, for their first loss of the season. Four different players scored in Villarreal’s 4-0 win vs Elche last weekend. After the Yellow Submarine’s scoring outburst, over 2½ goals show -120 odds.
Bettors should familiarize themselves with Osasuna, who are 3-1 and come into Matchday 5 in fifth place. The club from Pamplona finished in the top half of the La Liga points table last season and they’re aiming for a European place in 2022-23. Come Monday, they head to newly promoted Almeria in what looks like it should be a close match.
Home side Almeria are slight favorites, at +165 odds but are coming off a 1-0 loss to Valladolid. It was the first time this season Almeria failed to score a goal. That may have to do with the fact that Umar Sadiq left for Real Sociedad prior to the transfer deadline. In their second match without Sadiq, Almeria under 1½ goals shows a -220 price on Monday. In this pick’em, Osasuna are very slight underdogs, at +180 to win.
Osasuna has one of the more experienced teams in the league. Meanwhile, Almeria start an 18-year-old Brazilian center-back named Kaiky. The former Santos defender has adjusted very well to life in Spain as Almeria hasn’t conceded more than two goals in a match yet.
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