Getafe v Levante

We kick the La Liga weekend off with Getafe vs Levante which is a meeting between one team that has managed to overcome a terrible start to the season and another team that has let their terrible start snowball into a prolonged crisis.

With Getafe, their appointment of Quique Sánchez Flores has steadied the ship and they’re now outside the relegation zone and have won five of their past six home matches, drawing the other one. Even away from home, they just drew at Real Sociedad and only narrowly lost to Sevilla in their away game before that.

Beyond the results, the mood at Getafe right now is a positive one and they’ve had a successful January transfer window, able to attract talents like Borja Mayoral, Óscar Rodríguez and Okay Yokuşlu.

Levante, however, are rooted to the bottom of the table with just 11 points from 21 matches. When they finally secured their first win of the season by beating Real Mallorca at home at the start of January, it seemed like they might be able to kick on and attempt a great escape, but they lost at home to second-bottom Cádiz in their very next match to prove that the Real Mallorca win was a flash in the pan.

With Levante so poor and with Getafe steadily improving, especially at home, there is good value with the odds of 2.00 for a home win on Friday night

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Elche v Alavés

The first game of Saturday is a relegation six-pointer between Elche and Alavés, as Elche look to remain just above the bottom three and as their guests seek a three-point haul that could pull them closer to safety.

Both of these clubs are onto their second coaches of the season, with Francisco having done a very good job already to resuscitate Elche and with José Luis Mendilibar doing well at Alavés too. Even if the latter doesn’t have a win yet in his four matches with Alavés, that’s more so down to the tough fixture list of Real Sociedad, Athletic, Real Betis and Barcelona.

When they face each other on Saturday, a cagey game should be expected as each side sets out in a defence-prioritising 4-4-2. It’s clear from performances that both of these coaches are focusing on the defensive side of the game, while their January transfer business reflects this too as they each reinforced the central midfield and full-back positions while letting strikers depart as Lucas Pérez left Elche and as Mamadou Sylla left Alavés.

This really doesn’t look like it’ll be a goal fest or a classic. Quite the opposite. We can expect a midfield battle and few goals at the Estadio Manuel Martínez Valero.

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Real Mallorca v Cádiz

Of the five LaLiga matches across Friday and Saturday, Real Mallorca are the heaviest favourites of all at a price of 1.80. But, that just doesn’t look right when considering that Real Mallorca have lost their past four matches in the competition. Even though they’re the home side, their last LaLiga victory on the island was six matches ago – and, even then, that was against bottom-placed Levante.

Sure, Cádiz are the league’s second-bottom team, but they’re a team on the up as they’ve been much better since Sergio González took over as coach at the start of January. He has overseen four matches so far, drawing at home to Espanyol and winning away at Levante in LaLiga, in addition to an extra time Copa del Rey victory over Sporting Gijón and then a narrow Copa del Rey quarter-final loss away at Valencia on Wednesday night.

Cádiz’s deadline day signing Lucas Pérez has hit the ground running too, converting a penalty in the 2-1 cup loss to Valencia in midweek. Priced at 5.50 to be an anytime goalscorer on Saturday, he could make an impact here against a Real Mallorca side that has conceded 10 goals over their past four league games.

The value here is with the visitors, not with the team whose last LaLiga point came on December 10th, before most had put their Christmas trees up. So, a double chance bet on a Cádiz victory or a draw could make for a fruitful afternoon.

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Celta Vigo v Rayo Vallecano

Coming into this weekend, Rayo Vallecano are currently four points ahead of their Saturday afternoon hosts Celta Vigo in the LaLiga table. However, Rayo’s priority right now is the Copa del Rey, not the league.

They just won their quarter-final against Real Mallorca 1-0 on Wednesday to book a semi-final berth, with the first leg of the semis taking place this coming midweek, in just a few days’ time. Everyone at Rayo is ‘up for the cup’ right now, with coach Andoni Iraola explicitly highlighting how important the cup competition is for the club, who last reached the final four back in 1982.

Given all the above, don’t expect Rayo to be particularly motivated for this league fixture that is sandwiched in between their historic quarter-final and semi-final.

Celta Vigo, on the other hand, were knocked out of the Copa del Rey early on and only have the league to worry about over the final months of the season. They had a free midweek, making this their first game since before the January international break when they put together a decent run of form.

Given that Celta Vigo should have their entire squad available, with no injuries or suspensions, and given that they are the home team, they can certainly handle their business against a Rayo side whose priorities lie elsewhere.

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Osasuna v Sevilla

The January international break landed at just the right time for Sevilla. The Andalusian club had just been knocked out of the Copa del Rey by their city rivals Real Betis and had suffered two draws in a row in the league, where they remain second and just four points off leaders Real Madrid. The weekend off allowed Sevilla to catch their breath, to recover some players from AFCON and from what was a lengthy injury report and to conclude the signing of Anthony Martial. That’s exactly what they needed.

Bringing in Martial has been a real coup for Sevilla, while preventing Diego Carlos from leaving for Newcastle has been just as important. In a sporting sense, and also emotionally, these two transfer window wins have been a statement of intent, underscoring that Sevilla plan to push Real Madrid all the way in this year’s title race.

As Sevilla look to keep up this title challenge, they’ll start with a trip to Osasuna on Saturday night. While Osasuna are a solid and well-coached unit, they have been poor in their El Sadar stadium all year and have the third-worst home record in the division. Sevilla, meanwhile, boast the third-best away record in LaLiga in 2021/22.

Sevilla are the favourites here and rightly so. Adding a draw no bet safety net, since Osasuna can occasionally grind out a draw, makes this a very tempting prospect for Martial’s debut.

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