Top game of the La Liga weekend as we have struggling Valencia taking on the currently up and down Barcelona. Valencia will be looking to win their first home game this season, while Barca will look to gain some edge over 2nd placed Real Madrid who have dropped points again this weekend. It’s a huge game for both teams as they are in a big need of points here at Mestalla.
Key Facts
Valencia have drawn all 3 of their home La Liga matches and lost their only UCL match at home this season. Total record of 3D 1L.
All 4 Valencia’s home games had under 2.5 goals.
In all competitions Valencia have only scored 5 goals in 9 games. Not one player scored more than 1 goal for them.
Valencia have failed to bag a goal in 5 of 9 games this season. In total they’ve won just 1 in 9.
Valencia have kept 4 clean sheets in their last 6 games however.
Barcelona are the highest scoring team in La Liga with 18 in 8, while also scoring 8 in 2 in UCL making it 26 goals in 10 games. 2.6 per game.
Lionel Messi has 10 goals 4 assists in all competitions already this season.
Barcelona are winless in 3 straight La Liga matches, however they did win their midweek game away at Tottenham 2-4 in UCL to regain some form.
Barcelona have failed to keep a clean sheet in 4 straight games conceding 7 goals in those.
Barcelona haven’t kept a clean sheet in 5 straight La Liga matches.
Barcelona are unbeaten at Mestalla against Valencia in 13 straight meetings. 5W 8D. Last loss coming in Copa Del Rey in 2008.
Team News
Valencia: Valencia do not have any serious injury concerns coming into this game. We’ve seen Marcellino rotate his squad around in their last 2 matches against Sociedad and Man Utd and we could see a bit of a different squad again this weekend. There is competition in strikers position as Batshuayi, Rodrigo and Gameiro are all competing to start with 2 of them normally starting together. Last week we saw Gameiro alongside Batshuayi, during the midweek Rodrigo came in for Gameiro so there are options for Marcellino. We saw Guedes, Garay, Coquelin and Gaya all come into the side during the midweek game too. We will probably see more of a similar line-up to the one that featured against United than the one against Sociedad.
Barcelona: Umtiti and Sergi Roberto are both still out for Barcelona meaning Lenglet and Semedo are the likely replacements for them again. Elsewhere there’s nothing new to report concerning Barcelona. During midweek we saw Arthur start in midfield and there could be some rotation in that position with Vidal and Dembele fighting for starting places after being benched during midweek. Otherwise expect no other changes concerning Barcelona.
Betting Tips and Predictions
Well looking at this match, we have to back a Barcelona win. Valencia’s end product is simply appalling this season and that can’t happen when you play Barcelona. Barca picked up an important win in England against Tottenham which should re-boost their confidence and with Real Madrid losing again, they should surely take advantage of it this time around. Barca clearly have no problems playing at Mestalla as mentioned in the key facts earlier. Under 3 goals at 1.90 hold a ton of value here because of how low scoring Valencia’s games are, they don’t even hit over 2.5 so over 3 is going to be even tougher. We don’t expect Barca to come and put on a show but they’ll come and grind out a 0-1 or a 0-2 win. Barcelona to win to nil at 3.40 holds value even with their recent defensive struggles. Until Valencia prove they can score, we do not see them as a big threat to Barcelona.
Match Odds (TonyBet)
Valencia Win – 4.90
Draw – 4.10
Barcelona Win – 1.72
KICK OFF – 7th October 2018 – 7:45pm UK Time
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