La Liga Betting: Barcelona and Real Madrid to win well

Cristiano Ronaldo has scored on each of his last seven appearances for Real Madrid

Spain's Big Two can take maximum points from this weekend's round of matches and massage their goal differences along the way, says Tobias Gourlay

Rayo Vallecano v Barcelona
Saturday 17:00 (Live on Sky Sports 5)
Rayo 11.5n/a Barcelona 1.330/100 draw 6.611/2

Rayo Vallecano have lost 6/6 Liga encounters with Barcelona since returning to the top flight in 2011. They've been behind at half-time in all six and have conceded at least three times in each of them too. At Vallecas in the last three seasons, Barca have walloped their hosts for a total of 16 unanswered goals.

Paco Jemez's rabble held it together against Atletico Madrid on the opening day and grabbed a goalless draw. Since then they've conceded at home to Athletic Bilbao - who are not what they were last season - and three times in defeat to Elche.

Barcelona broke out and hit 10-man Levante for five a couple of weeks ago. If they are to do that against a full 11-man unit, it could be this weekend.

The league leaders are yet to concede a Liga goal this season and the Win To Nil has some appeal at 2.47/5. But, although their scoring record in this fixture is not good, Jemez does at least fill Rayo with attacking intent and last season they scored twice in 3/6 home games against top-six finishers.

So we'll focus on the goals that should come at the other end.

Recommended Bet
Back Barcelona 3 Goals or More @ 1.855/6

Eibar v Levante
Saturday 19:00 (Live on Sky Sports 5)
Eibar 1.845/6 Levante 5.59/2 draw 3.55/2

Levante have scored just once across the first six rounds of La Liga, but that has been enough to accrue a total of four points.

New boys Eibar are riding much higher in eighth, with an even W2-D2-L2 record.

Five of those games have finished with Under 2.5 Goals, which goes off a 1.511/2 favourite this weekend.

Gaizka Garitano's men have maintained the strong defence that defined their title-winning campaign in last season's Segunda Division and already kept three clean sheets.

Levante have a couple of shutouts to their name too. They've conceded a couple of times in their defeats to date, but those reverses came against stronger attacking units than Eibar's: Villarreal, Athletic Bilbao, Barcelona and Rayo Vallecano. 

Recommended Bet
0.5pts - Back Under 1.5 Goals @ 2.68/5

Espanyol v Real Sociedad
Sunday 18:00 (Live on Sky Sports 5)
Espanyol 2.727/4 Sociedad 2.962/1 draw 3.39/4

Sociedad have won just won of their first six Liga games - coming from two down to beat Real Madrid 4-2 at home. They've also gone out of Europe to Krasnodar.

Espanyol, on a mini unbeaten run of three, might be tempting, but they've only won once all season themselves, against a poor Getafe side.

Instead, with the Parakeets scoring five times in three outings at the Cornella-El Prat, and with this fixture producing 16 goals in its last four runnings, a small bet on Over 2.5 Goals is the selection.

Recommended Bet
0.5pts - Back Over 2.5 Goals @ 2.166/5

Real Madrid v Athletic Bilbao
Sunday 20:00 (Live on Sky Sports 5)
Real 1.232/9 Athletic 15.5n/a draw 8.07/1

Athletic Bilbao came fourth in last season's La Liga - that's way they had to go all the way to BATE Borisov to lose a Champions League game in midweek - but have started the new La Liga season badly.

The Basques have scored on only 2/6 league outings and have already been beaten 2-0 at the Camp Nou this term.

With Cristiano Ronaldo scoring in seven straight games, Real Madrid are coming into form, winning five European and Liga games in a row since their derby defeat to Atletico.

Los Blancos have won this fixture in each of the last five seasons: 5-1, 5-1, 4-1, 5-1, 3-1.
Over 3.5 Goals deserves consideration at 1.9620/21 but, with Athletic struggling to score recently, backing Real on the Asian Handicap is our pick.

Under Carlo Ancelotti, 17/18 home wins have been by margins of two goals or more and 11/18 by three or more.

Recommended Bet
Back Real Madrid -1.5 & -2.0 on the Asian Handicap @ 1.84/5

2014/15 La Liga P/L

Staked: 18pts
Returned: 10.7pts

P/L: -7.3pts

2013/14 P/L: +18.77pts (11.55% ROI)