La Liga 2021/22 Matchweek 18 betting picks & best odds

Sevilla hosts Atletico Madrid and Real Betis visits Athletic Bilbao in La Liga Matchweek 18 as the Blanquirrojos and the Verdiblancos fight for second place behind Real Madrid on La Liga table. Here’s a breakdown of those two matches as well as the Levante vs Valencia clash in this weekend’s La Liga soccer betting picks.

Sevilla vs Atletico Madrid

Since losing 2-1 to Real Madrid on the road last month, Sevilla (10-4-2) has rebounded with back-to-back 1-0 wins over Villarreal and Athletic Bilbao. This Saturday, Sevilla turns its attention to Atletico Madrid (8-5-3), who have lost each of their last two matches to Mallorca and Real Madrid since going undefeated with a 4-3-0 record over its previous seven matches.

The betting odds project this matchup as a virtual dead heat, giving both teams -110 odds on the pick’em line and listing Sevilla at +172, Atletico at +178 and the draw at +200 on the three-way line. This seems a bit disrespectful to Sevilla, who have conceded seven fewer goals this season and scored only one less than Atletico Madrid in the same number of games played. Not to mention that Sevilla is 6-1-0 at home and Atletico is 1-2-2 in its last five road matches. All three outcomes are indeed quite possible, but taking Sevilla at home looks like the top play in this matchup.

Athletic Bilbao vs Real Betis

Athletic Bilbao (4-9-4) is winless in its last eight matches, falling to 0-5-3 with its 1-0 loss to Sevilla last Saturday. With only 13 goals scored and 12 goals conceded across 17 matches this season, Athletic has paid off on plenty of UNDER bets this season. Seven of the club’s last eight games have produced two goals or fewer.

SEE ALSO: SERIE A MW18 BETTING PICKS

Real Betis (10-3-4) has climbed up to third place on La Liga table thanks to a four-match winning streak. This streak includes a 4-0 win over Real Sociedad last Sunday and a 1-0 road win over Barcelona the week before. Betis is 7-0-2 over its last nine matches and those losses both came against top clubs in Atletico Madrid and Sevilla. There is value here on the UNDER 2.25 given Athletic Bilbao’s propensity towards low-scoring games, though we can’t pass up on Real Betis getting huge underdog odds despite being in excellent form and facing a team that hardly ever scores.

Levante vs Valencia

Levante (0-8-9) is still searching for its first win of the season after having fallen to 0-4-8 over its last 12 games after last Saturday’s 4-3 loss on the road to Espanyol. Valencia (6-7-4) is undefeated over its last six games with a 3-3-0 record that includes a 1-1-0 record on the road.

This is another matchup where the odds don’t seem to align with reality as Valencia is just a slight favorite (+165) to win over Levante (+175) despite being the clearly superior team in better form. It isn’t that a loss on the road would be all that surprising, just that this matchup doesn’t look quite as even as the odds suggest. We’ll happily take Valencia at pick’em odds of -103; this feels like a bet that will push often, win often, and lose rarely.