by Tom Allen
The 2010 La Liga season will kick off on August 28 with a new ball (the Nike
T90 Tracer - it stays down) but the same old foes battling it out for the
championship, at least according to the odds posted by bookmakers for La Liga
betting. With Spain the center of the footballing universe these days and La
Liga arguably the most talent-laden league in the world there will be plenty of
bets struck in various markets as punters try to turn the visual feast into
profit.
There are twenty teams in the league with the three new teams promoted from
the second division being Real Sociedad, Hercules CF, and Levante UD.
Surprisingly none of these teams are at the top of the boards in the relegation
betting market, which is currently headed by Racing Santander and CF Almeria.
They're both 5/4 for the drop at
Betway.
Pick: 4 pts on Levante to go straight back down again. The team lacks
depth and will be fortunate to survive at this level.
Betway is currently trading this team @ 4/6 to be relegated.
There will of course be more attention and betting action on which team will
be crowned champions of La Liga. It is essentially a two horse race, but you
cannot find better horses than FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. Their team sheets
read like a who's who of world football and odds makers currently give Barca the
slightest edge pricing them up at 9/10 with Real Madrid at 13/10.
Next in the betting is Sevilla FC at a whopping 25/1 and you can actually get
40s about their chances at 888sport. That might be worth a speculative punt. If
Sevilla gets off to a fast start and stays in touch those odds should shorten
appreciably at which point you can lay off and hedge in a profit. They will not
be able to win in the end, but 40/1 is the wrong price.
Pick: 1 point on Sevilla to win the league @ 40/1 (888
Sport).
One other betting market of interest is the bet to finish in the Top 4 of the
league. Obviously Real Madrid and Barcelona are on offer at 1/100 and make no
appeal at those odds. But have a look at Valencia who are priced up at 6/5 with
Unibet and appeal at that price. We expect a very good season from this team who
finished third last year, a massive 25 points adrift from the top two but still
better than the rest. While Atletico Madrid and Sevilla are both decent we can
see Valencia staying in the mix and once again securing a spot in the top four.
Pick: 3 points on Valencia to finish in the Top 4 @ 6/5 (888
Sport).
No preview of the 2010/11 La Liga season is complete without a prediction as
to which side will win it all. Do not discount the powers of The Special One.
Portugal's footballing Messiah is the greatest coach in the world, at least
according to his own opinion, but the cult has legs and Mourinho has the ability
to coach Real Madrid to victory this season. He also has players like Ronaldo,
Kaka, and Casillas.
Pick: 6 points on Real Madrid to win the league @ 13/10 (Ladbrokes).
