REMEMBER Terry Gibson? Well, we've signed him and while he won't be kicking a football he'll be looking into his crystal ball and bringing us his best Spanish tips every week.
The ex-Spurs, Coventry and Manchester United striker is probably best remembered for his time as part of the infamous Wimbledon Crazy Gang side of the late 80s and early 90s. Now an expert in all things La Liga he works as a pundit and co-commentator on Sky Sports’ Spanish football coverage and is a contributor to unibet.
Here are Terry's tips for two big Sunday fixtures in La Liga.
Villarreal v Sevilla (Sun 5pm)
If it wasn’t for the Valencia v Barca game then this would certainly be the game of the weekend. Both teams are pleasing on the eye and both have aspirations of finishing in the top four this season.
Villarreal are in sixth place and Sevilla lie in fifth. The former are unbeaten in their last six games and I’m backing them slightly in this game to win by the odd goal.
I think it’s going to be pretty close, Sevilla have only drawn once this season and have won five and lost two by the odd goal.
Most of their games are pretty tight and playing at home somehow just edges them over the line in these tight affairs. Five of their seven wins have come in their own stadium. If it’s going to be close in this game I’m going to go for the home team.
Villarreal’s strike force of Bakambu and Bacca, I believe, will be the more potent and Sevilla do have some issues regarding absent central defenders.
Against Liverpool, left-back Lenglet and central midfielder Johannes Geis were a somewhat makeshift pairing, covering for the absences of Parejo, Carrico and Kjaer.
If that’s the case again this Sunday then I expect the Villarreal front two to be the difference.
I’m going to go for a Villarreal 2-1 win with Carlos Bacca starting the scoring. Of course, the incredible Sevilla comeback against Liverpool was overshadowed by the sad news that their coach Eduardo Berizzo is suffering from Prostate cancer.
Unbelievably, he is still attending and overtaking all training sessions and is expected to continue his coaching duties in full for the foreseeable future whilst receiving treatment. I’m sure you all join me in wishing him well in a full recovery. Fuerza Berizzo.
Terry's Tips
- Correct score: Villarreal 2, Sevilla 1 (15-2, Unibet)
- First scorer: Bacca (45-10, Unibet)
- Both teams to score (31-50, Unibet)
Valencia v Barcelona (Sun 7.45pm)
Much was made of the Madrid derby result last week in the fact that both Atletico and Real were now 10 points behind Barcelona. Many people have suggested that the title race is now over and Barcelona’s advantage is now unassailable because of the deficit of those two.
What about Valencia? It is now a club record eight straight wins for Marcelino’s team and they are just the four points behind Barcelona, not 10!
This game is huge for both teams and that has been evident in the fact that important players have been rested prior to this game. I was somewhat surprised that Marcelino last week rested Simone Zaza, Carlos Soler and Gonçalo Guedes against Espanyol. With no European midweek action and a whole week before the game he gambled and it just about paid off.
They were 2-0 winners but it was very close. At half-time it wouldn’t have been unreasonable to suggest that it could have and probably should have been at least 2-0 to Espanyol. Espanyol were by far the better team and hit the woodwork on two occasions.
As so often happens though with a team that’s starting to believe in themselves their form improved in the second half, Soler and Guedes were also introduced and it certainly made a difference indeed.
Both of those will start in this game, Zaza will return and Valencia will be at full strength. I’m 100% certain that there will be no concessions made by Marcelino and Valencia will maintain their positive attacking approach with an all out 4-4-2 system.
I’m not so sure, however, with the Barcelona approach. Messi also surprisingly was rested in the Juventus match and that shows the respect Valverde has for Valencia in this game. He needs him at his best for this one.
Messi has 12 goals so far in La Liga and is the leading scorer in the competition.
Interestingly though he has only scored in five of Barcelona’s 12 played this season. It’s been a couple of braces against Alavés and Las Palmas, a hat trick v Espanyol, just the four v Eibar and a single against Athletic Bilbao.
It’s only one in his last five and it has gone relatively unnoticed due to the fact that Barcelona continue to win without his obvious help. I have a theory, though, with Messi at the moment that he is coasting through games and is effectively resting during 90 minutes of football.
It’s almost like he is saying ‘I’m here if you need me at some stage!’
The fact that he agreed to the rest against Juventus suggests to me that he is mindful that the tougher part of the season is approaching and this is his way of maintaining freshness and sharpness for the decisive second half of the season.
There can be no doubt that the full undiluted version of Messi is going to be required in this game.
Barcelona don’t play such an obvious 4-4-2 but it is a variation of it. They will be without the suspended Gerard Pique and Mascherano is out injured. That means that Thomas Vermaelen will also be needed for the first time in 623 days in a La Liga fixture.
Barcelona are going to have to rely on what has been a fantastic rearguard so far this season and it’s going to be so important on how Vermaelen fits into a defence that’s only conceded four league goals so far.
They will be severely tested by Zaza, Rodrigo, Soler and Guedes.
Now for my prediction!
Tough one indeed, but I’m going to go for a Barcelona victory. I considered a home win but I’m not sure that Valencia are in the form they showed four games ago. I also considered a draw but I didn’t want to sit on the fence in this one, unlike the correct shout in the Madrid derby last week.
This one won’t be as tactical as that game and I believe it will be very open.
Because of this I’m going to go for Barca and the reasons are that they have the greater experience of these types of games, they are aware of the importance and I’m backing Messi to be the difference.
I’m going to go for a 3-1 away Barcelona victory, last week I backed Suarez to open the scoring against Leganés and was right but this week I’m going to go for Messi to get the first goal. It will probably be a cutback from Jordi Alba if you are interested in that aspect.
Terry's Tips
- Correct score: Valencia 1, Barcelona 3 (21-2, Unibet)
- First scorer: Messi (59-20, Unibet)
- Both teams to score (2-5, Unibet)
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An ex-Tottenham, Coventry and Manchester United striker, Terry is probably best remembered for his time as part of the infamous Wimbledon Crazy Gang side of the late 80s and early 90s. Now an expert in all things La Liga, he works as a pundit and co-commentator on Sky Sports’ Spanish football coverage.
