SUNDAY IN EUROPE: The Ultra previews Sunday’s matches between UDINESE v ATALANTA, REAL SOCIEDAD v VILLARREAL and BARCELONA v CELTA VIGO all with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
UDINESE V ATALANTA
2.30pm It might not be the most glamorous Sunday around Europe on BETDAQ Betting Exchange, but we do have three very interesting fixtures from Serie A and La Liga to enjoy. We start with the highlight fixture of the day as Udinese host Atalanta in Serie A – for the moment at least, this is a massive game in the race for the title! Both sides started the weekend sitting in the top three, with Atalanta on the same amount of points as Napoli who sat top and Udinese just one point behind them. It will be interesting to see how deep they can go into the season while staying in the title race – AC Milan aren’t too far away, but Inter Milan and Juventus have dropped plenty of points already. I’m sure given both of these sides finished in mid-table last season that they would be delighted with any form of European football come the end of the season, but for the moment at least their fans can dream! While they have both been over-performing a little when you look at the xG table, there isn’t much in it. They sit in fifth and sixth in that table, and in general they have both played nice football. This should be a high quality game between two very good sides.
We have a lot of action in Serie A this afternoon with four games kicking off at 2pm and two later on; this is the most open market of the day and I don’t think that’s a surprise! When you look at everything here it’s hard not to see a very close game. Both sides are obviously in superb form and Udinese have put six wins together now! They started the season off with a 4-2 loss to AC Milan, drew their next game and then haven’t looked back. They can include a 4-0 win over Roma and a 3-1 win over Inter Milan in that run too! They were a little lucky to win those games looking at xG, but you can’t knock them – they took their chances and they are obviously a very strong side at home. At the start of the weekend, only Atalanta and Napoli remained unbeaten in Serie A this season, and in general Atalanta have been very solid. They have had their lucky results too – indeed they were very lucky to beat Roma 1-0 before the International break as they conceded an xG of 2.57! They have played a lot more cagey than Udinese, and we have an interesting clash of styles here. I was very tempted by the Atalanta lay because Udinese are so strong at home it’s a nice position to have the Udinese win and the draw on our side, however I can’t get away from Under 2.5 goals at 2.04. I feel this game will be very cagey – Atalanta don’t give much away at the back away from home, and I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see a 0-0 here. Unders stands out as the value, but I couldn’t put anyone off the Atalanta lay either.
The Ultra Says:
Three points win Under 2.5 goals at 2.04 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/UdiAta
REAL SOCIEDAD V VILLARREAL
5.30pm Next we move to La Liga as Real Sociedad host Villarreal. This should be another very close and hard fought game in Europe this afternoon. Both sides started the weekend right beside each other in the table, and indeed they finished right beside each other at the end of last season too! Real Sociedad came out on top by just three points. Although they finished sixth and seventh last season and have Real Betis between them and the top four, everyone will be on high alert after Sevilla’s poor start to the season. It looked like the top four in La Liga was on lock, but Sevilla have opened the door. If there is going to be a change then one of these sides could be in the mix. Real Betis already have a slight advantage over both of them, and Athletic Bilbao have also made a strong start to the season. Basically whatever way you look at it, the loser here is going to be a on the backfoot and probably looking at the Europa League or Europa Conference League rather than trying to push for a top four spot. It will be interesting to see can Sevilla actually get back into the mix, but for the moment they are closer to a relegation battle! As you would expected, we have a very open market here. To be honest it’s hard not to see a very close game here – there really isn’t much between the sides, and you can understand why Real Sociedad are the favourites because they have home advantage.
Although I expect a close game – we tend to see fireworks between these two. If you look at the stats you will see both teams have scored in each of the last six meetings, and Both Teams To Score has only lost once in the last nine La Liga meetings. That will be a popular selection here at around 1.85. I thought it would be shorter to be honest. There is usually only a goal between the sides – only once in the last eight meetings have we saw a team win by two goals – that was actually this fixture last season when Villarreal won 3-1. Real Sociedad actually won away from home too! Villarreal would have been very disappointed to only draw away to Cadiz last weekend on returning from the International break, and they were unlucky not to beat Sevilla prior to the break – they had to settle for a 1-1 but finished the game with an xG of 2.20. Villarreal have actually been creating some good xG numbers this season, even beating Atletico Madrid away from home. Real Sociedad’s games have also been packed with chances – indeed they returned with a 5-3 win last weekend! They create and conceded a lot, and given the stats I’m very happy to back Both Teams To Score at 1.85 – it looks cracking value!
The Ultra Says:
Four points win Both Teams To Score at 1.85 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/SocVil
BARCELONA V CELTA VIGO
8pm We stay in La Liga to finish the day as Barcelona hot Celta Vigo. It’s been an up-and-down week for Barcelona. Things went very well for them last weekend in La Liga as Real Madrid dropped points and they grinded out a win away to Mallorca to go top of the table. It wasn’t their best performance – indeed it was their worst performance this season probably, but they got the job done. They then went to Inter Milan mid-week in the Champions League and lost a very close game 1-0; that was a huge setback for them in Europe because obviously Bayern Munich are going to top that Group and now Barcelona are massively on the backfoot in the race for second. They can’t afford to take their eye off the ball in La Liga with Real Madrid starting the season in such good form and of course El Clasico is coming up next weekend too; but really and truly all roads lead to trying to beat Inter Milan here next week. It’s a simply must win game. To be fair to Barcelona, there really wasn’t much in it during the weekend. Inter only finished the game with an xG of 0.14 which is barely anything, while Barcelona finished with 0.70 which isn’t great either but shows that they created a little more than Inter. The market is expecting Barcelona to get back to winning ways here though as they are trading as short as 1.32 at the time of writing.
Barcelona should be getting the job done here, but you have to say that their form has dropped off a little over the last week. They were absolutely on fire before that Mallorca performance and I felt afterwards maybe they had one eye on the Inter Milan game midweek but then they didn’t create a lot there either. They will definitely be more comfortable at home here and it’s hard to see past them winning, but they might not be able to cover the handicap or score many goals. Obviously the side markets is a good place to start here with Barcelona so short in the match odds market. I’m going to keep stakes small here and have a small bet on Both Teams Not To Score at 1.89. I was going to back Under 2.5 goals, but Celta Vigo have actually conceded a lot of goals already this season – nearly two per game on average. They are you classic mid-table La Liga side, and while it’s hard to call if Barcelona score two or three, I do feel the home side will be able to keep a clean sheet. Celta Vigo’s average xG this season is only 1.1 which is quite low, and they won’t see much of the ball here either.
The Ultra Says:
One point win Both Teams Not To Score at 1.89 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/BarCel
