Spanish La Liga
2011-01-09 - Real Madrid vs Villarreal
A Sports Betting Pick by Caged
Football : Spain : Primera
Sunday 9th January 2011
That El Clasico humiliation against Barcelona will certainly have hurt Real Madrid, but they appear to be suffering no ill effects as they return to business as usual in the league. Four straight and relatively comfortable wins, two of which were against supposed Champions League challengers Valencia and Sevilla.
True, Madrid haven't really been fluid or exciting, but Mourinho teams generally arent. Mourinho teams get the job done, particularly at home, and theres no reason to doubt they will roll Villarreal over in the same way they have the other pretenders.
What those two games against Valencia and Sevilla taught us is that when Madrid are up against a bit of quality, they get the job done by simple scorelines. 1-0 vs Sevilla, 2-0 vs Valencia. We've showed decent profit by dutching Real Madrid to win by 1 or 2 goals this season, and this is shaping up for another attempt at odds against.
Dont get me wrong, Villarreal are a good side. Double digit odds for a side with the quality of the yellow submarine demands a second thought. They look easily the best of the rest in the division this season. But they've lost the finishing ability of Nilmar to a knee operation and this puts huge amount of pressure on the admittedly fine talents of Giuseppe Rossi.
If Mourinho has plans for shackling Rossi, which history tells us he will have, then its difficult to see Villarreal causing an upset here, particularly given theyve only managed three away wins from 8. And they haven't won away to Madrid since ... err ... ever probably, in view of their short Primera history.
But Villarreal can certainly keep this one close, its unlikely to be a comfortable home win. They've only lost three games this season, and all by 1 or 2 goals, including a 2 goal defeat at Barca that provides the best yardstick for this match.
The Betting Verdict :
Take Real Madrid to win by 1 or 2 goals.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Real Madrid 2 Villarreal 0
BEST BETTING TIP :
Put equal stakes on Real Madrid to win by 1 and 2 goals in the margin of victory market at Ladbrokes at 4.33 each.This gives us 2.17 winner if successful.
