La Liga 2021/22 Matchweek 23 preview & best bets

Barcelona hosts Atletico Madrid this Sunday in a battle between two top-five teams in La Liga. This matchup is included in our La Liga Matchweek 23 best bets along with two other Sunday games in Real Betis vs Villarreal and Real Madrid vs Granada.

Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid

Due to a series of postponements and rescheduled matches, Barcelona (9-8-4) has played five of its last six matches including each of its last four matches on the road. Barcelona passed this test with an undefeated 3-3-0 record and is now 5-3-1 over its last eight matches since a winless stretch of 0-2-2 in back in October and November. The club will be playing its first La Liga match at home since December 18 on Sunday.

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Atletico Madrid (10-6-5) went 2-1-0 in January after going 0-0-4 in December. While the recent success is clearly a step in the right direction, it is worth noting that the two wins came at home and the draw came on the road. Madrid has won on the road only once since September 21 and is 1-2-4 since then including a current stretch of 0-1-3 away from home. It’s hard to imagine Madrid’s road woes ending against a home team as strong as Barcelona. A draw wouldn’t be a big surprise, but the +125 odds on Barcelona at home are too good to pass up on.

Real Betis vs Villarreal

Borja Iglasias scored two goals and Real Betis (12-4-6) scored four goals for the second straight game in the club’s 4-1 road win over Espanyol before the break. These two wins coupled with the 4-0-0 record that came before Betis’s recent 0-1-2 skid makes that stretch just look like a few off nights. Villarreal (8-8-6) has also been playing well of late with a 5-1-1 record over its last six games. The club has scored three or more goals in each of its last four wins.

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When these two clubs last met in October, Villarreal came out on top in a 2-0 win. Villarreal has been significantly worse on the road this season than at home though with a 1-5-4 record away from home compared to a 7-3-2 record at Estadio de la Ceramica. The OVER is a tempting play here with both of these offenses playing well, but Real Betis getting revenge with a win at home pays better and feels like the most likely outcome.

Real Madrid vs Granada

After opening the season with a 0-3-4 record, Granada went on an impressive 5-6-2 run that included upset wins over Sevilla and Atletico Madrid at home. Granada has cooled off since then though with back-to-back losses of 4-2 at Getafe and 2-0 against Osasuna. And even during its stretch of strong play, Granada was still no match for Real Madrid in a 4-1 loss at home.

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So it’s hard to imagine a more favorable result for Granada this time around. Real Madrid (15-5-2) played to a disappointing 2-2 draw against Elche prior to the break, so Granada also won’t have the potential luxury of catching Real taking them lightly. All signs point to a Real Madrid blowout, and we’ll be betting this one accordingly.