La Liga Tips: Back 9/2 double in free-scoring clash between Girona and Real Madrid | OneFootball

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Real Betis v Barcelona - Sat, 15:15

Fortunately for the sake of this preview, Barcelona have had the chance to respond since I tipped them to take care of Las Palmas last weekend. After a handsome 5-1 win at Mallorca, following up that inexplicable home loss at Montjuïc, my confidence in them has been repaired somewhat.

In the considered words of Hansi Flick himself, following their midweek victory: "We are happy that s*** November is over, and now we start with the December."

Indeed, there seem to be two sides to Barcelona at the moment. At their best, they are a juggernaut. On their off days, they can look uncomfortably chaotic. In the middle, however, there's most certainly a team who can challenge for the title this season - and that's beyond what many of us thought reasonable for the Hansi Flick project in the summer.

Betis, meanwhile, are in a bit of a rough patch. Frustration is growing around the Manuel Pellegrini project, with his side unable to hit a run of prolonged form. At times, it's as if the team can only compete in the way they're expected to when they've got the wind in their sails at an atmospheric home ground.

Whatever the context beforehand, the Benito Villamarin can be a tricky place to go, especially when the crowd are likely to be at their best (usually the case when Barcelona come to town). In that way, I'm going to steer clear of the result here, and instead opt for a tip centred around Lamine Yamal.

As he eases his way back into the fold following an injury, the rest of La Liga ought to shudder at the prospect. Even without match rhythm and looking someway below his most precise against Mallorca last time out, Yamal was still a huge creative force in the game, laying on two outside of the boot passes that put the game beyond the hosts.

The youngster had chances to score in the game too, and his appetite for goals will be on the rise. I'll take him to score anytime @ 9/4 here.

Girona v Real Madrid - Sat, 20:00

In the eight La Liga meetings between Girona and Real Madrid - all played since 2018 - a grand total of 35 goals have been scored. That's an average of 4.4 per game, making it one of the best pound-for-pound fixtures in Spanish football in recent times.

Indeed, this hasn't been a one-sided fixture in the process either. Girona have won three of the eight matches against Real Madrid, avoiding defeat just as often as they have suffered it (W3 D1 L4). Even when they were facing them as a newly promoted side, Girona held up with a remarkable record of just one defeat in four games (W2 D1).

We always get goals in this fixture, and with the way that both arrive into the latest one, there's no reason to think the trend will be bucked. True, Kylian Mbappe may be struggling in front of goal by his lofty standards, but the instability of both sides out of possession - along with their attack-minded styles - really should keep us on the edge of our seats here.

Together with over 2.5 goals in the game, I'm going to drag us out to a 9/2 double, courtesy of Bryan Gil to score or assist anytime. Even with reduced attacking firepower compared to last season, Girona are still averaging over two goals per home game in La Liga this term (2.1), and have netted exactly four in each of their last two.

And for his part, Gil has been directly involved in four goals in his last four appearances in La Liga, scoring once and providing two assists. While he's in good form and likely to be up against Lucas Vazquez at right back (in Dani Carvajal's continued absence), that is a match-up that Girona ought to feel good about.

Athletic Bilbao v Villarreal - Sun, 15:15

This is a big one with respect to the fight for Champions League football this season. Before the campaign, I tipped Athletic to win out in the push for fourth place, but it seems likely they're going to have some decent competition, specifically from Villarreal themselves.

One of the big considerations in advance of the season was whether Athletic would be able to be as competitive as Villarreal domestically, given that they have European football on the menu and the Yellow Submarine don't. Indeed, Athletic are also one of modern day 'big beasts' of the Copa del Rey, as well as one of the four sides involved in the Supercopa at the start of next year. Their schedule is much more demanding than Sunday's opponents.

Ultimately, I backed Los Leones to be able to overcome those and still finish fourth this term. However, the topic of condition comes back into focus strongly this week, with Athletic having had to play in midweek against Real Madrid (owing to their participation in those other competitions). And even though they won that with an impressive performance, the flip side is they're going to arrive to the weekend in less-than-ideal condition.

The effort it requires to carry out Athletic's style of play - namely their high press, which gave Real Madrid all sorts of issues - often brings with it the risk of performance lag. At the same time, you can expect Ernesto Valverde to make changes and weaken his XI in the name of squad management, while Villarreal can go with everything they have.

With all that said, I'm still not convinced of the away side's chances here - at least not of winning. San Mames is a tough place to go under any circumstances, and their defensive frailties put me off backing them to take advantage of their freshness. Villarreal have the joint-fewest clean sheets (1) in La Liga this term, and threw away a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2 against Girona last time out.