La Liga: A Real Six-Pointer in Madrid

Atletico Madrid vs Real Sociedad

Fourth plays fifth in the La Liga match of the weekend on Sunday when Real Sociedad visit Atletico Madrid in a top-end showdown.

Los Rojiblancos are in the final Champions League place, five points behind leaders Real Madrid with a game in hand, and a point and a place above Sociedad in fifth.  

Both these teams are banging in form and scoring freely. 

Diego Simeone’s Atleti come into the game on the back of two 3-2 wins, one in the league over Cadiz and another in the Champions League over Feyenoord, while Imanol Alguacil’s Sociedad beat Athletic Bilbao 3-0 in the league and followed that up with a 2-0 win in Salzburg.

The latest La Liga 2023 betting odds make Atleti a shoo-in for a top three place with La Real in a battle for fifth alongside Bilbao and early pacesetters Girona.

A home win wouldn’t change any of that, but if Alguacil can mastermind a Sociedad victory, then the mood will quickly change in both camps.     

Talking Points

Morata vs Kubo

With five goals each in this campaign, Alvaro Morata and Takefusa Kubo are in joint-second place in the race for the Golden Boot alongside Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski and one goal behind Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham.

Morata is more the traditional striker, leading the line with authority and strong in the air and on foot, and he has made an excellent start to this campaign with seven goals in eight in all competitions. 

He bagged a couple in the 3-2 win over Feyenoord on Wednesday, and Morata will line up alongside Antoine Griezmann, who was also on target against the Dutch side.

Atleti have made a strong start in Spain and Europe, and the form of Morata, as well as Saul Niguez who has made five assists, has been a huge factor.      

22-year-old Japan international Take is more of a wing player or inverted forward, and he is having his most productive start of his young career. He has now scored 14 goals in 42 appearances for La Real, and that is a ratio which compares well with Morata.

Take is quick-footed and has a superb burst of pace which can put the wind up any defender and, backed by Mikel Oyarzabal, who has scored three goals and made one assist, he will work hard to stretch the Atleti defence.  

The recent Basque Derby was a big test of Sociedad’s top four credentials, and they came through strongly, winning 3-0 as both Take and Oyarzabal hit the target.

Who’s in and out?

Los Rojiblancos have a fairly busy physio room at the moment with a trio of defenders all in treatment.

Caglar Soyuncu, Stefan Savic, and Jose Gimenez are all sidelined, which means Simeone will probably opt to pair up Axel Witsel or Cesar Azpilicueta, with Mario Hermoso at the heart of defence.

Up front, Memphis Depay is out, so Morata and Griezmann will continue with Braziilan Samuel Lino out wide.

Real Sociedad are without loanee wing-back Kieran Tierney, so Aihen Munoz will continue on the left side of defence while Alguacil is hopeful that Robin Le Normand is ready to take his place at centre-back.    

History

With 24 wins to Atletico, 18 wins for Sociedad, and 11 draws, there has been a good battle between these two teams over the years, and both earned top four positions last term.

The two clubs have identical recent records with four wins on the bounce and a draw and a defeat before that sequence.

Sociedad drew their opening three league games, but they have now picked up four wins in the last five.

But while both teams come into the game with an impressive set of La Liga 2023 results, Atletico have not been beaten by La Real in the last 10 encounters at the Civitas Metropolitano.    

Betting Tip

The draw is at SBOTOP odds of 3.25 and Real Sociedad are at 3.54 to pickup all three points, but I’m going for a home win.

Atletico have won all three of their home league games, including a 3-1 victory over Real Madrid and, with Morata and Griezmann in hot form, I think they will have success in attack.

But Take is on a hot streak too, and Atleti are a little threadbare at the back so we could be in for a high scoring game, not something we’d normally associate with Simeone.  

So for an alternative bet, maybe take a look at Over 2.50 goals, which is at a decent price of 2.20.  

 

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