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Valencia v Barcelona
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Kick Off: Saturday 16th December at 20:00
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Competition: La Liga
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Watch Live: Viaplay Sports 1
We take a trip to Spain for Saturday nights clash between Valencia and Barcelona where our experts have identified their favourite, value-packed selections for you to include in your bet builders. However, we are not just stopping in Valencia this weekend, with plenty more free expert football betting predictions and European football tips available across the site.
Be sure to check out our European weekend football accumulator tips and experiment with all the amazing betting tools we have on the Andy’s Bet Club site including our bet builder stats and cheat sheet guides, giving you everything you need to make your own informed betting selections.
Before you back any of our tips though, make sure you’re all over the free bet offers and the latest bookmaker offers that we have collected to help you bet smarter this weekend.
La Liga’s Saturday evening match comes from Estadio de Mestalla as Valencia host champions Barcelona. Both sides head into this match on the back of defeats, and although it’s now just one win in five for the hosts, rare back-to-back defeats for Xavi’s side are concerning.
Barcelona’s recent 4-2 defeat to high-flying Girona means they are already seven points behind them after just 16 matches – there’s certainly work to do.
Valencia currently occupy 11th, nine points clear of the relegation zone yet ten away from a Europa League spot. However, their home form has served them well to date, collecting 13 points from seven matches. More impressively, they’ve only conceded three goals in front of their fans, making the Mestalla the fortress it once was.
Barcelona have been strong on the road, with only Girona and Real Madrid above them in the away table.
A 93rd-minute winner from Robert Lewandowski secured all three points in this fixture last term, and another close encounter is expected with both sides looking to stop the rot.
Valencia v Barcelona Cheat Sheet
This Cheat Sheet and Preview was created using predicted lineups.
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You can find Valencia v Barcelona match stats, on my bet builder stats tool, along with official line-ups one hour before kick-off.
⚽ Match stats: Away side to sneak victory
Although Barcelona suffered an embarrassing defeat to the hands of Antwerp midweek, their previous form was rather strong against lower ranked domestic opponents.
Wins over Alaves, Athletico Bilbao, Atletico Madrid and Sevilla were signs the club has been moving in the right direction despite slip ups in Europe.
Unbeaten on the road in La Liga, Xavi’s side have shown real resilience, whilst scoring hasn’t been an issue. In fact, Barcelona have only failed to score once away and that was the opening day of the season against Getafe, when arguably still blowing away a few cobwebs post pre-season.
Valencia have lacked consistency at home, despite only conceding three goals. Defeats against Osasuna and Real Sociedad show improvement has yet to be truly established compared to last season.
Wins vs Cadiz and Granada, before drawing against Celta Vigo were all steps in the right direction, but none of these three sides will be pulling up any trees this campaign.
Barcelona will prove to be arguably Valencia’s toughest match to date, and with just two victories over the Catalan club since 2008, it’s unlikely to change this weekend.
Predictions:
🏆 Barcelona to win @ 1.62
🎯 Shooting stats: Lean on Lamine Yamal
Barcelona fans have mixed feelings around their number nine in Robert Lewandowski who’s struggled to not only score, but failed to hit the target as often as expected.
Although the Polish striker scored against Girona, he didn’t have a single shot on target against Antwerp, Atletico Madrid or Rayo Vallecano in recent weeks.
Instead, we’re turning to someone almost two decades younger than Lewandowski in Lamine Yamal. The 16-year-old had three shots against Antwerp, hitting the target once, before having shots blocked in cameos against Girona and Atletico Madrid.
Although it isn’t guaranteed he starts, Xavi may look to mix up his starting XI after two consecutive defeats. Despite Barcelona falling to defeat in Belgium, Yamal put in a stellar performance and may be rewarded with consecutive starts for his efforts.
With Lewandowski priced at just 1.20 to have a shot on target, which hasn’t landed often in recent weeks, Yamal offers much more value at 2.10. The youngster enjoys cutting inside from his wide position and isn’t one to shy away from taking aim from range.
Predictions:
🎯 Lamine Yamal to have 1+ shots on target @ 2.10
🚩 Corners stats: Valencia to be penned in
At home, Valencia’s narrow style of play has seen them struggle to rack up corners – relying more on open play to score. In their last five home matches against Celta Vigo, Granada, Cadiz, Real Sociedad and Atlético Madrid, Valencia have lost all corner bets.
In fact, in their 1-0 victory over Granda and their 1-0 defeat to Real Sociedad, Valencia failed to win a single corner across the 90 minutes – a quite staggering statistic.
Barcelona aren’t known to produce high numbers themselves on the road, but produced more than Antwerp, Rayo Vallecano, Shaktar and Granada across the last month. They produced 11 against Granada in their frustrating draw, and if Valencia hold Xavi’s side for as long as possible, expect the Catalan club to win plenty of corners from their fluid 4-3-3 formation.
Whether the hosts are leading a match or losing, their lack of corners is a concern but hands an advantage to the visitors on Saturday evening and should see the bet builder over the line as Xavi’s side look to get back on track in La Liga.
Predictions:
🚩 Barcelona corner match bet @ 1.40
🚩 Over 3.5 Barcelona corners @ 1.20
* I recommend waiting for confirmed team line-ups before placing any bets.
* All odds displayed correct at the time of publishing.
Written by an Andy verified content writer
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