Betis welcome Espanyol to Estadio Benito Villamarín on Sunday evening. Two teams who favour an attacking style go head-to-head in what should be both an attractive and enjoyable encounter.
Although both of these two teams have been pretty good to watch so far this campaign, neither have quite reached the level you’d generally expect from them. Betis have played well at times, but they’ve been blighted by inconsistency, while Espanyol, who’ve produced some good attacking football in places, have followed a similar pattern.
From a betting point of view, this one looks good for a few goals. The fact that both teams prefer to get on the front foot and play forward passes should ensure that an open game takes place. At odds of 11/10 and 6/4 respectively, ‘Over 2.5 Goals’ & ‘Over 2.5 Goals & Both Teams to Score’ are the bets to be on ahead of this fixture.
The majority of Betis’ best football has come in front of their own fans this season, while Espanyol have actually fared best on their travels. When playing at home, the hosts have only failed to score in one of their four matches, while the same can be said for the visitors in their four away.
The goal stats for Betis at home aren’t exactly the most appealing, but it is important to put them into context. Two of their four matches saw a combination of both teams score and more than three goals hit the net. The two that didn’t came against La Coruna – a game that saw multiple goal-scoring chances created and only finished 0-0 down to a lack of finishing, while the other was against a Malaga side who generally make it their mission to defend when playing away from home. Quique Sánchez Flores’ side aren’t exactly a team to simply sit deep and, with some useful attacking players in their ranks, they’re likely to come and have a bit of a go. The fact that there have been goals in all but one of Espanyol’s away fixtures is perhaps evidence of this. The visitors were involved in a 6-4 thriller first time out on the road this season, while their next two also involved goals – a 1-1 draw at Sociedad preceded a 2-1 victory away at Osasuna.
On the two occasions that a team has come to the Villamarín and had a go, goals have been witnessed. Considering Espanyol are fancied to come and adopt such a style this trend could easily continue.
Another positive ahead of this one is the fact that neither of these two sides look particularly good at the back. Betis have conceded in four of their last five and in seven of their nine overall, while Espanyol have also kept only two clean sheets this season. When we consider the attacking pedigree of both teams – players such as Rubén Castro, Joaquin and Charly Musonda for Betis, as well as Pablo Piatti, Gerard Moreno and Leo Baptistão for Espanyol spring to mind – a clean sheet for either in this match seems unlikely, but what is likely is a match where both teams look to outscore each other.
All in all, there’s plenty to suggest that goals could be on the cards in Andalusia on Sunday evening and thus ‘Over 2.5 Goals’ and ‘Over 2.5 Goals & Both Teams to Score’ are two worthwhile selections.
See all of Sunday’s tips here.