Spain's 'La Liga' has set off with, you guessed it, Barcelona out front. However, there are a few others others stepping on their coattails. Lets look into La Liga's season details thus far to better get a handle on how to pick this league.
2012
La Liga Preview
Spain’s La Liga keeps on delivering the
goods, but Real Madrid still needs to continue to make amends for the crimp
they put in Mrs Richardson’s shoe buying.
Three games in and there is a familiar
sight at the top of the Spanish, La Liga Premier Table. Barcelona! Thus far in
the La Liga 2012-13 Barcalona is the only team with a 100% winning record (it
still counts after three games). For the sake of the stats you might like to
know that three sides have permitted fewer goals than Barcelona’s two. Malaga,
Rayo Vallecano and Atlético Madrid have all allowed just 1 (no team has a
completely clean sheet).
First
in bets dressed?
Real Madrid and their petulant star (you
know which one I mean) have a full house of results with one win, one draw and
a loss after three games. They sit dead centre of the table, tied on four
points with Levante, Atlético Madrid and Getafe. It may be early days to be
talking about champions but you should know that the best odds have Barcelona
at 2/5 and Real Madrid at 15/8 to be crowned 2012-13 la Liga Champions.
What is undeniable and very apparent is
that no team has scored as many goals as Barcelona's eight, with Deportivo La
Coruna and Real Betis’ six being the closest anyone is likely to come in terms
of goals scored all season.
Down
at the bottom of the table
There are two teams nil on points, Osasuna
and Espanyol. Osasuna being the worst off with a goal difference of -5, but
Espanyol are hardly sitting pretty on -3. Joining the broken pencil (pointless)
teams, under the relegation wire is Granada, who have a single solitary draw to
shout about.
Just above the dreaded dotted line is the
final of the quartet of teams without a win, but with a 1 point “cushion”
keeping them out of the relegation zone, Valencia. As things stand now with the
bookmakers the favoured relegation odds are on Granada at 4/5, Zaragoza at 5/4,
Celta Vigo at 7/4 and Valladolid at 5/2.
Talking
softly but carrying a big boot.
Barcelona’s Lionel Messi admits that he
would rather see more titles at Camp Nou than repeat his 72-goal season, a
season that saw them end up as runners up. Next up for Messi and Barcelona is a
trip to Getafe and the odds are so short on an away win at 2/9 they are barely
worth investing in. The last time these sides met at Getafe, the game ended 1-0
to the home side. A repeat of that score is at a very tempting 33/1, however
more likely is the score from the last meeting (played out in Barcelona) where
Barca was all over Getafe winning 4-0, worth a couple of pounds at 12/1.
A
special request from the Special one.
Real Madrid may have recorded their first
three points of the season with 3-0 win over Granada on Sunday night, but coach
Jose Mourinho remained underwhelmed with the reigning champions’ performance, 'I
want more from my team' - Mourinho demanded. He is insisting on improvements
despite their victory last weekend. Madrid's next game sees them travel to
Sevilla and is the perfect opportunity to show the Special One just what they
can do. They had better or I might be sent to the naughty step (or the dreaded
lonely sofa) by Mrs Richardson. I’m betting heavy on Real Madrid in this match
as I feel they owe it to me and ‘er indoors to swell Mrs Richardson’s shoe
fund. Madrid are 4/7 to finish the weekend on seen points.
Sevilla are undefeated in their last five
(DDWDW) but Real Madrid will be full of the fact that they won 6-2 in their
last two visits to Sevilla, That score is offered up (and worth a punt) at 200/1
this time around. And if it needs to be mentioned, Real Madrid has won their
last five games against Sevilla, outscoring them 18-4 and winning to nil three
times (in their last five). Because Real Madrid has hardly lit up the season so
far, I’m tempering my enthusiasm and backing just 2-0 at 8/1.
Free
Soccer Predictions: Wins for Barcelona, Real
Madrid – and no surprises.