La Liga 2021/22 Matchweek 17 betting picks & top value plays

This weekend’s La Liga card has two top-five matchups as Real Madrid hosts Atletico Madrid and Real Betis hosts Real Sociedad. The final team in the top five, Sevilla, is on the road against Athletic Bilbao. We’ve got plays in all three of these big games in our La Liga Matchweek 17 best bets.

Real Betis vs Real Sociedad

Real Betis (9-3-4) dropped back-to-back game against two of La Liga’s top teams in a 3-0 loss to Atletico Madrid and a 2-0 loss to Sevilla last month. Betis has bounced back with three straight wins since then and is 6-0-2 in its last eight matches overall. Real Sociedad (8-5-3) has failed to score a goal in each of its last three matches and is 0-1-2 over that stretch since going 8-4-0 over its previous 12 matches.

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We are going against the grain and taking the OVER 2.5 goals in this one. The UNDER 2.5 makes a lot of sense given that Real Betis has been playing well on defense and that Sociedad has an excellent defense and is in poor form on offense. But for whatever reason, these two clubs always seem to bring out the offense in each other; each of the last seven matches in this head-to-head series have produced at least three goals, including a quartet of four-goal games. Perhaps this is the game that Sociedad breaks out of its recent slump.

Athletic Bilbao vs Sevilla

Athletic Bilbao (4-9-3) has been a drawing machine this season with more draws (nine) than decisive results (seven). Last Monday was no exception as the club played to a 0-0 draw against Getafe, moving to 0-5-2 over its last seven games. Sevilla (9-4-2) will be looking to avoid a draw and pick up all three points to hold on to its spot in second-place on La Liga table with 31 points.

Expect an extremely low-scoring game in this one. Unfortunately the total doesn’t leave much room for error set at exactly two goals. It’s tough to pick between Sevilla and a draw with both options going off at +210 on the three-way line, so we’ll combine the two with a double chance on Sevilla to win or draw.

Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid

Real Madrid (12-3-1) extended its current unbeaten streak (7-1-0) to eight games and its current win streak to six straight games with Saturday’s 2-0 win on the road over Real Sociedad. The club has opened up an eight-point lead over the rest of the pack in La Liga standings and doesn’t appear to be showing any signs of slowing down. Atletico Madrid (8-5-2) has fallen into fourth place on the table after a stunning 2-1 loss at home to Mallorca last Saturday, perhaps caught looking ahead to this Madrid Derby matchup.

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Due to the strength of Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid is only a +115 favorite on the three-way line this Sunday. When an elite team like Los Blancos are paying over even money at home, you can’t pass up on that as a bettor. Sure, Atletico could force a draw with a strong performance, but Real Madrid is playing to well to bet against in this spot.