La Liga: Barcelona Brace for Top-5 Showdown with Sociedad

Real Sociedad vs Barcelona

Barcelona have hardly looked as convincing this season as they have in recent years. But lo and behold, they are top of La Liga alongside rivals Real Madrid and breezed through the Champions League group stage, knocking out Inter Milan at San Siro with a second-string side.

The Blaugrana will now turn their attention back to the league, where they will pay Real Sociedad a visit at the Anoeta.

La Real have gone off the boil in recent weeks, but they still find themselves in the top five. However, they will need to be on top of their game if they are to defy the La Liga 2019 betting odds and put an end to Barca’s impressive winning run.

Talking Points

La Real’s roller-coaster form

Real Sociedad have struggled to find much consistency in the league in recent weeks. Their last six matches have seen them pick up a loss, win, draw, loss, win, and draw. While there’s no shame in losing away to Real Madrid, they’ve also dropped points against some weaker sides, particularly at home.

They seemingly got back on track with a dominant 4-1 win at home against Eibar. But they once again came unstuck away to Real Valladolid, where they had to settle for a 0-0 draw.

La Real just didn’t have their shooting boots on against Valladolid. Despite firing 16 shots, only two were on target.

On paper, Sociedad still possess quite a decent attack spearheaded by Willian Jose, the team’s leading scorer with seven goals, as well as Mikel Oyarzabal (five goals, four assists), Portu (four goals, four assists), and Martin Odegaard (three goals, four assists).

La Liga: Can Martin Odegaard help Real Sociedad win against Barcelona? — Norwegian midfielder Martin Odegaard during Real Sociedad training

However, their defence remains a bit suspect. Their clean sheet against Valladolid was the first they’ve kept in the league in five matches. They’ve also conceded three goals in losses against other top sides in Sevilla and Real Madrid, although both were away from home.

Still, it will take a monumental effort from that Sociedad defence to keep Barca’s star-studded attack quiet at the Anoeta.

Barca keep racking up wins

Barcelona just keep winning. After squeaking past Atletico Madrid with a late Leo Messi goal, they turned on the style as they thrashed Mallorca 5-2 at the Camp Nou.

The front three of Messi, Antoine Griezmann, and Luis Suarez all got on the scoresheet, with Messi celebrating his recent Ballon d’Or by claiming the record for La Liga hat-tricks from Cristiano Ronaldo.

Meanwhile, Suarez scored an audacious backheel goal that could very well be the best of the La Liga 2019 highlights.

And even with Messi rested and Suarez only a substitute, they went into San Siro and defeated Inter 2-1 to knock the Italians out of the Champions League. Young Ansu Fati fired home the winner to become the youngest ever player to score in the competition.

That win was Barca’s seventh in a row in all competitions, with four coming in the league.

One of the few knocks on Barca this season, though, has been their away form. They haven’t nearly been as impressive outside of the Camp Nou. But aside from a couple of setbacks, they’ve still gotten the job done and picked up the points for the most part.

History

Real Sociedad’s recent form against Barcelona has not been good. The Catalans have come out on top in each of their last seven meetings in all competitions.

Sociedad’s last win against Barcelona came all the way back in 2016 when a teenage Oyarzabal grabbed the only goal.

Barca won both matches against Sociedad last season, 2-1. Keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen starred in their win at the Anoeta. Messi surprisingly didn’t score in either encounter after scoring in the previous four.

Betting Tip

	Real Sociedad vs Barcelona	Barcelona 1X2 @ 1.73
	December 14, 23:00 (GMT+8)

SBOBET odds have Barcelona favoured away from home and are priced at 1.73 to pick up all three points. Sociedad are at 4.30, while a draw is 3.80.

Based on recent form, it’s hard not to go with a Barca win. Despite the criticism about the quality of their performances this season, they’ve still picked up the results. And with Messi in spectacular form, they always have a great chance.

Recent meetings against Real Sociedad, coupled with Barca’s somewhat shaky away form, suggest it won’t be a simple walk in the park. But at the end of the day, I fully expect Messi and co. to come away from the Anoeta with all three points.