La Liga Predictions, Picks, and Best Bets for June 18

The 2019/20 La Liga season is back in full swing, and following three months without any action, Spain’s top tier is making up for lost time by staging numerous games each day for the remainder of the campaign.

Let’s take a look at the La Liga fixtures for Thursday, June 18.

Real Madrid returned to action with a fairly routine victory over Eibar on Sunday. Real Sociedad and Valencia both drew their first game back, while Alaves suffered a disappointing defeat to Espanyol.

In this post, I start by giving my predictions for Alaves vs. Real Sociedad and Real Madrid vs. Valencia before sharing the best bets for Thursday’s La Liga matchups.

Real Sociedad was held to a draw by Osasuna in their first game back since the restart. But thanks to fifth-place Getafe losing and sixth-place Atletico Madrid also dropping points, Sociedad remains fourth and in control of their push for Champions League soccer next season.

La Real was by far the better side against Osasuna and will be disappointed not to have come away with the victory in their previous game. Captain Mikel Oyarzabal — who has been in fine form throughout the 2019/20 campaign — netted his ninth La Liga goal of the season to earn his team a precious point.

It’s safe to say that things couldn’t have gone much worse for Alaves in their first game back. Fernando Pacheco was sent off after just 19 minutes in a 2-0 defeat to bottom-club Espanyol, while El Glorioso failed to register a single shot during the entire game.

Alaves is still seven points clear of the bottom three, so the club should be safe from relegation. But if Asier Garitano’s men continue to perform like they did in their previous game for the remainder of the season, Alaves could easily slip into the drop zone.

Real Sociedad has enjoyed an excellent campaign up to now, so I’m expecting the Basque outfit to return to winning ways against a lowly Alaves side.

Real Madrid vs. Valencia is undoubtedly one of the standout fixtures in the Spanish soccer calendar, but this matchup is far from being a top-of-the-table clash this season. While second-place Los Blancos remains firmly in the hunt for the title, Valencia is all the way down in seventh.

Zinedine Zidane’s side continues to trail league-leader Barcelona by just two points following a 3-1 win over Eibar on Sunday. Goals from Toni Kroos, Sergio Ramos, and Marcelo capped off a rampant first half for Real Madrid, and although the team dropped off slightly in the second half, the victory was never in doubt.

Meanwhile, Valencia was held to a 1-1 draw by cross-city rival Levante on Friday. Rodrigo thought he had won the game for Los Ches with a goal in the final minute of normal time, but Gonzalo Melero’s last-gasp penalty ensured the points were shared.

Valencia has endured a very inconsistent season so far. Scoring goals hasn’t been a problem of Albert Celades’ side, but keeping the ball out of their own net has been their downfall. In fact, Valencia is the only team in the top half of the table with a negative goal difference.

Real Madrid and Valencia drew in the reverse fixture at the Mestalla earlier in the campaign, but I’m backing Los Blancos to claim all three points this time around. After all, Real has a lot more to play for right now.

It’s time to check out the best bets for Thursday’s La Liga games.

I’m expecting Real Sociedad to beat Alaves, so the price of 1.91 for the away win is very attractive here. Betting on Sociedad to win is still a great option, but I believe even better value can be found elsewhere for this matchup.

Behind Barcelona and Real Madrid, Sociedad is the highest-scoring side in La Liga this season. La Real is averaging over 1.5 goals per game this term, so odds of 2.25 for Sociedad to score over 1.5 goals against struggling Alaves cannot be ignored.

Given Real Madrid’s superiority, the price for the home win is only 1.30 here. But if you back Los Blancos to win both halves against Valencia, the odds are boosted to 1.91.

Zidane’s men flew out of the blocks in their previous game, netting three goals before half time. The three-month lay-off doesn’t seem to have impacted Real Madrid’s goalscoring form, so I can see the home side winning both halves on Thursday.

If you like the look of my picks and want try your luck, make sure you use the best online soccer betting sites to wager on La Liga.

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