Eibar vs Osasuna
Estadio Municipal de Ipurua, Eibar
Sunday, 18-10-2020@1pm
The matchday six fixture will see 11th-placed Osasuna trade tackles with the 14th-placed Eibar, with three points at stake in the Basque country.
Eibar showed great tenacity to pick up a 2-1 away victory to Real Valldolid despite being a man down a fortnight ago, while Osasuna were toothless in their goalless friendly draw with Deportivo Alaves last weekend.
Eibar and Osasuna have met on 19 occasions in the past and the visitors have the superior head-to-head record.
The Pamplona side have seven victories to their name, scoring 22 goals and conceding 19, while the hosts picked up a win on five occasions. Seven games ended in a draw.
The most recent meeting between the pair came in a friendly fixture in September when both sides had to share the spoils in a 1-1 draw.
Athletic Bilbao vs Levante
Estadio San Mames Barria, Bilbao
Sunday, 18-10-2020 @3pm
Despite a promising start, 2019/20 eventually represented yet another season of underachievement for Athletic Bilbao and things haven’t got any better for Los Leones in the new campaign thus far.
The Basque giants are second bottom in the early standings after three losses from four and boss Gaizka Garitano is under maximum pressure heading into this weekend’s clash against Levante at San Mames, where his side will be looking to break a run of four consecutive home league defeats.
Bilbao will take comfort from the fact that they did the double over Levante last term, while the visitors have also lost 14 of their last 22 La Liga fixtures on the road.
Nonetheless, the hosts can’t exactly be supported with any confidence here based on current form, even though Levante are also languishing in the relegation zone.
Bilbao continue to struggle for goals and have failed to hit the net in three of their four outings this term.
Villarreal vs Valencia
Estadio de la Ceramica, Villarreal
Sunday, 18-10-2020 @5pm
Villarreal have lost only five of their last 27 La Liga home matches, collecting seven points from three fixtures this season. Valencia have won only two of their last 15 away league games.
Valencia have failed to score in seven of their last 11 league games on the road, which includes in a 2-0 loss here in June.
Francis Coquelin and Dani Parejo both left Valencia for Villarreal in the summer and their decision should pay off when the two teams do battle in La Liga.
Coquelin and Parejo weren’t the only two big names to leave Valencia as Rodrigo and Ferran Torres also departed the Mestalla Stadium to join Leeds and Manchester City respectively.
That hasn’t pleased Valencia manager Javi Gracia who has regularly admitted he has a far ‘weaker squad’ at his disposal and that could come to light at Villarreal, who have lost only one of their opening five games.
Bar a 4-0 blip at Barcelona, Villarreal have been solid, particularly at home where they have collected seven points from three games.
Wins over Eibar and Alaves may not read well on paper but it may not take much more to overcome a Valencia side who were brushed aside 2-0 at home to Real Betis prior to the international break.
In fact, Valencia have won only two of their last 15 away league games and they were comfortably beaten 2-0 here in June last season.
Villarreal have lost only five of their last 27 La Liga home matches.
Deportivo Alaves vs Elche
Estadio de Mendizzoroza, Vitoria-Gastiez
Sunday, 18-10-2020 @7:30pm
With just four goals netted between these teams across eight La Liga outings so far, we could be in for a long afternoon this Sunday when the sides face off at Mendizorroza.
Alaves eked out enough points to narrowly escape the drop last season, but they earned themselves a reputation for being one of the dullest La Liga teams in the process.
That trend has continued so far this term with just three goals netted by Babazorros in five games, although Rodrigo Ely’s strike against Bilbao before the international break could turn out to be priceless as it secured Alaves their first win of the new campaign.
Nonetheless, four points from a possible 15 to date is essentially on a par with what Pablo Machin’s men were achieving in 2019/20 and it’s hard to expect anything other than a relegation scrap for the Basque outfit this time around.
They have a winnable fixture upcoming this Sunday, though, against an Elche side who have looked extremely limited since their promotion to the top flight.
Jorge Almiron’s have managed to accrue four points from their matches, but their only goal so far came at Eibar on Matchday 2.
Huesca vs Real Valladolid
Estadio El Alcorez, Huesca
Sunday, 18-10-2020 @7:30pm
The Estadio El Alcoraz will be the venue of a matchday six fixture in La Liga, as SD Huesca welcome Real Valladolid.
The visitors currently occupy bottom spot on the table, with just two points picked up from five matches, while the newly-promoted Huesca have fared slightly better in 15th place with four points from the same number of matches.
The hosts come into the game on the back of three consecutive draws with Elche, Atletico Madrid and Valencia, while Valladolid are yet to pick up a win this season.
These two sides have met on 14 occasions in the past and they have an identical record with six wins apiece, while two games have ended in a stalemate.
The most recent meeting came in February 2019 when Huesca ran riot with a 4-0 victory, although the campaign ended in the agony of relegation for them.
Real Betis vs Real Sociedad
Estadio Benito Villamarin, Seville
Sunday, 18-10-2020@10pm
Real Betis won nine of their 17 home games last term and 3-0 winners over Real Sociedad. Sociedad have won only three of their last 11 away league games. Both teams scored in 15 of Real Betis’ 19 home league games last term.
Real Betis have made a solid enough start to the La Liga season with three wins from five games and should be backed to take maximum points from Real Sociedad.
Betis kicked off their campaign with wins to nil over Alaves and Valladolid and although defeats against Real Madrid and Getafe followed, they were back on the winning trail at Valencia before the international break.
A 3-0 drubbing at Getafe must be forgiven but they performed with real credit at home to the champions, who trailed 2-1 and needed a 82nd-minute penalty from Sergio Ramos to oblige.
Betis were a formidable force on home turf last season – they lost only six times from 19 encounters – and they were emphatic 3-0 winners when Real Socidead travelled to their Seville base.
Sociedad finished sixth last season but they remain inconsistent, particularly on their travels. Imanol Alguacil’s visitors have won only three of their last 11 away league games.
Betis have failed to score in only one of their last 35 home games and last season they scored at least twice in home tussles with Barcelona, Real Madrid, Valencia and Athletic Bilbao.
It is worth noting, however, that both teams scored in 15 of their 19 home games, which offers hope for Sociedad.
Saturday’s results
-Granada 1-0 Sevilla
-Celta Vigo 0-2 Atletico Madrid
-Real Madrid 0-1 Cadiz
-Getafe 1-0 Barcelona
