Liam Kelly has landed six of his last eight tips in his La Liga column, and he searches for more value in the next round of fixtures.
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Football betting tips: La Liga
1pt Athletic Club to beat Barcelona at 5/2 (Sky Bet, Betfair Sportsbook)
1pt Gabriel Veiga to score anytime in Celta Vigo v Rayo Vallecano at 9/2 (bet365)
Athletic Club v Barcelona
- Kick-off time: 20:00 GMT, Sunday
- TV Channel: Viaplay Sports 1, LaLigaTV
- Athletic Club 5/2 | Draw 9/4 | Barcelona 23/20
Barcelona, La Liga's runaway leaders as we enter the final stages of the campaign, have been consistently underrated this season, but this might be the match-up to oppose the Catalan giants.
San Mamés is comfortably one of the most difficult places to visit in Spain and, although they beat Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey without Robert Lewandowski, Pedri and Ousmane Dembélé, it was clear that Barca just aren't reaching top levels with key players missing.
Add outstanding defender Ronald Araújo to that list of absentees and Bilbao start to make appeal at the prices despite a poor run of form.
Indeed, the 5/2 available for ATHLETIC CLUB TO WIN is value to small stakes.
A total of nine points gained from their last ten league fixtures will hardly fill you with confidence, but their underlying numbers haven't been too bad in comparison, so a bounce back to form against Barca wouldn't be a massive shock.
Bilbao still hold one of the best expected goal differences (xGD) in La Liga when filtered to home games, posting a +12.8 xGD this term.
At the odds, Marcelino's side are just too big to beat his old team.
Score prediction: Athletic Club 2-1 Barcelona (Sky Bet odds: 10/1)
Celta Vigo v Rayo Vallecano
- Kick-off time: 17:30 GMT, Saturday
- TV Channel: Viaplay Sports 1, LaLigaTV
- Celta Vigo 21/20 | Draw 11/5 | Rayo Vallecano 13/5
GABRIEL VEIGA TO SCORE ANYTIME is a good bet considering the form the 20-year-old starlet finds himself in at the moment.
At 9/2 with bet365, Celta Vigo’s local lad should be taken to score against a Rayo Vallecano team that allow a fair amount of chances for a team sitting so high in the table.
Already striking up a productive relationship with club legend Iago Aspas, Gabri has been in excellent touch since the return of La Liga football after the World Cup.
He’s scored five goals across those 10 matches, displaying the ability to get into scoring positions by averaging 0.57 expected goals (xG) per 95 minutes in that time.
Celta tend to throw in the odd barren showing when it comes to chance creation, but they’re a much better team at home than away, and Gabri’s price is too big to ignore in any case.
Score prediction: Celta Vigo 2-1 Rayo Vallecano (Sky Bet odds: 8/1)
Odds correct at 1045 GMT (10/03/23)
Odds correct at 1630 GMT (09/03/23)
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