Valencia v Real Madrid

Ramos’s side will still be licking their wounds going into this weekends fixture in the Mestailla after last weekends mauling. It now would require a ‘Devon Loch’ from Barcelona for Madrid to win La Liga, so its pride that’s most at stake now, and quite possibly the manager’s job.

Valencia on the other hand are in a race for the last Champions League spot with Athletico and Villareal hot on their heels. The Los Che have improved in the last month, their return to form suspiciously coinciding with the players getting paid again after the club suspended wages for a period. Valencia’s form since has been 5-1-1 with a draw against Barca at home and a 3-0 loss last week against a red hot Espanyol side. 

One glaring stat is that their last 6 games have all had 3 or more goals, while Madrid’s last 3 games have consisted of 5, 6 and 8 goals! Form doesn’t last forever but it would be foolish not to follow the trends here.

***Main Bet:  Over 2.5 goals = 8-13 at Bet 365 & Paddy Power***

Over 3.5 goals = 11-8 @ Paddy Power

First Goalscorer: David Villa = 9-2 with most firms

David Villa will be looking to inflict more pain on Madrid

 Rangers v Celtic

After successfully predicting the reverse fixture early in the season, im inclined to go down the same route this weekend.  The two sides have met 4 times this season, two 0-0’s (Celtic won one in extra time), 1-0 to Celtic and a 4-2 Rangers win at Celtic Park in the opening month. 

Rangers go into the game in good form and 1 point behind Celtic, having won their last 5 league games. Celtic are in equally good form and have stopped Rangers scoring on the last 3 occasion, with that in in mind a tight low scoring game looks on the cards again.

No goalscorer = 9-1 @ Sportingbet

Under 2.5 goals = 3-4 @ Bet 365

West Ham v Liverpool

The games are running out for Liverpool but they are still plugging away and maintaining a high level of performance. We were correct to get on the -2 handicap last week against Newcastle, but this game looks a lot tighter. West Ham have had an outstanding second half of the season, and they are in pole position in the race for the Europa league place. They have tightened up defensively and are nicking 1-0 wins.  Incredibley 15 of their last 16 matches have had under 2.5 goals in them.

Liverpool’s home draws may well cost them the league this season, and West Ham were one of those sides who left Anfield with a point, proving that they are more than capable of frustrating their opponents. Tellingly though, they have only scored 1 goal against the big 4 in 7 matches this season, and when they have lost it has been either 1-0 or 2-0, and i think this is a more than likely outcome on Saturday.

Under 2.5 goals = 5-6 available at most firms

Liverpool to win 1-0 = 6-1 @ Bet 365, Betfred, Coral and Stan James

Liverpool to win 2-0 = 6-1 Bet 365 Betfred, Skybet, and Ladbrokes

………………………………………………………………………..

Treble on all three under/over selections = 9-2 @ Bet 365

…..Best of luck to anyone having a flutter this weekend

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