Real Madrid are bidding to bounce back from a painful night at the Emirates in midweek. They travel to Mendizorroza on Sunday to take on La Liga strugglers Alaves.
Having also lost at home to Valencia last weekend in the league, the pressure is on Carlo Ancelotti to find some solutions and fast, with Los Blancos in danger of seeing their entire season collapse.
Defensively they’ve been very weak of late, with no clean sheets in nine matches in all competitions. The midfield is not functioning well, and up top, it’s only really Kylian Mbappe who is offering a consistent goal threat right now, although they still remain firmly in the title race as second favourites to Barcelona, as we enter the final eight games.
Survival is the only objective for Alaves. They’ve made some positive strides since appointing Chacho Coudet last year, but with 50% of their matches so far under the Argentine ending level, they still have plenty of work to do in order to secure survival. A 1-0 win at Girona last time out was certainly a step in the right direction.
How the bookies view it: Los Blancos favoured to bounce back with a win
Real Madrid are the 13/20 favourites to respond to a run of just two wins from six matches in all competitions, by picking up maximum points. Alaves are on offer at 19/4 to do further damage to their opponents by winning this game, while you can back this to end level at 13/4.
Recent head-to-head: Alaves hoping to recreate 2018 upset
Alaves last won this fixture in 2018 when Manu Garcia struck in stoppage time to seal a 1-0 win and spark wild celebrations in Vitoria. Real Madrid have won on all four visits to Mendizorroza since then though, while they’ve won nine of the last 10 meetings overall.
Players to watch: Mbappe in Pichichi contention
Kylian Mbappe trails Robert Lewandowski by three goals in a two-horse Pichichi race. There’s little prospect of the Frenchman being one of the players rested here, with Mbappe hungry to add to his 22-goal haul in La Liga.
From a home perspective, Kike Garcia should provide the main goal threat, although he’s failed to net in his last three matches, having grabbed his 11th of the campaign in La Liga against Mallorca at the start of March.
Predicted Lineups
Alaves have no players currently injured, but they have been hit hard by suspensions, with first choice keeper Antonio Sivera banned here, along with Jon Guridi and Tomas Conechny.
As for Real Madrid, some light rotation is expected following the trip to London. Aurelien Tchouameni was banned in Europe and should definitely return, with Antonio Rudiger potentially due a rest. Fran Garcia and Lucas Vazquez should also come in at full-back.
Alaves: Owono, M. Sanchez, Abqar, Mourino, Tenaglia, Blanco, Alena, Jordan, C. Vicente, C. Martin, Kike.
Real Madrid: Courtois, F. Garcia, Asencio, Tchouameni, L. Vazquez, Camavinga, Valverde, Vinicius, Bellingham, Rodrygo, Mbappe.
Anything else catch the eye?
Both teams to score is priced at 4/5 with Betfred, a winning bet in seven of the last nine Real Madrid matches.
The corner stats also make interesting reading ahead of this. Alaves average 5.93 corners per home game, which is comfortably more than the 4.40 corners Real Madrid have averaged on their travels in La Liga this term. You can back the hosts to have over 4.5 corners at 8/5 with BoyleSports.
Arsenal had 11 shots on target against Los Blancos in midweek, and Real Madrid’s various goalkeepers have been kept very busy in recent matches. You can back Alaves to have over 3.5 shots on target in this game at 29/20 with Unibet.
This La Liga match between Alaves and Real Madrid will be played on and kick off at 15:15. Check below for our tipsters best Alaves vs Real Madrid prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
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