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 key Sunday games.
Villarreal v Getafe (Sun 11am)
Villarreal haven’t won in the last four games in all competitions and their hopes of catching fourth-placed Valencia are diminishing rapidly. Their form has really tailed off having only collected one point from the last nine available but Getafe are ideal opponents in this game.
Getafe play Sunday at Villarreal and then on Wednesday against Depor at home followed by Real Madrid away on Saturday. The Azulones have certainly drawn the short straw in this run of fixtures with three games in six days and two tough away fixtures in particular.
I expect them to go all out in the midweek game against Depor and Jose Bordolas will certainly believe that is the most winnable game out of the three. Getafe are normally a very hard-working, organised outfit with a pretty regular starting lineup.
They go into the game unbeaten in six with four of those drawn and are 15 points clear of the relegation zone having been promoted last season via the play-offs. It’s been a great season so far but this is a tough week.
I’m not too sure who the back-up players are for Getafe as most of the team have been regulars for the majority of the season so I’m not even sure Bordolas can rotate too much. Villarreal certainly do have a deeper squad. At the moment they are underachieving and are in desperate need of a boost.
I expect Villarreal to be more attack-minded in this game, it’s a must. Coach Javier Calleja has drifted away from the sacred two-man strikeforce at Villarreal and it isn’t working. He has preferred lately to adopt the 4-2-3-1 formation after the departure of Cedric Bakambu to China but the quicker he gets back to 4-4-2 the better for Villarreal.
If he plays the traditional Villarreal style, they win this game, if he doesn’t and they don’t win he is going to be under pressure. This is a big game for him and Villarreal and I’m going to predict a 2-0 home win.
I’m going to back Carlos Bacca to open the scoring and I advise Calleja to back him too!
Terry's Tips
- Villarreal 2, Getafe 0 (7-1, Unibet)
- Bacca to score first (4-1, Unibet)
- Villarreal win (9-10, Unibet)
Sevilla v Atletico Madrid (Sun 7.45pm)
A decent performance from Sevilla on Wednesday evening but as we have seen this season they are not as prolific as they have been in the past. They had plenty of play and attempts at goal but lacked that composure and quality in the final third to break down Manchester United and in particular David De Gea.
Sevilla are a decent team, they knocked out Atletico recently in the Copa del Rey over two legs which is no mean feat and I wouldn’t write them off getting an away draw at Old Trafford which would see them progress further in the competition.
I certainly don’t agree with Ray Wilkins that they would finish in the bottom six of the Premier League. Despite being victorious in the Copa del Rey by the surprise scoreline of 5-2 on aggregate over Atletico, I make the away team favourites in this game.
Atletico are firmly in the groove at the moment – well the Atletico groove if you know what I mean. Since their only league defeat of the season at Espanyol they have gone on to win six and draw one.
They have kept six clean sheets in those seven games and have only conceded one goal. Huge congratulations to Girona’s Portu who joins the exclusive list of only eight players to have scored against Atletico in La Liga this season!
In fact Girona have scored a third of the goals conceded by Atletico this season with three in total. I’m going to back Atletico to not only win but of course keep another clean sheet against what can be a pretty sterile Sevilla attack.
If Wissam Ben Yedder starts as I expect him to after not taking part against United he will be the biggest threat. Despite Sevilla being strong at home I’m finding it hard to go against Atletico getting revenge for the Copa del Rey. I’m going for a 1-0 away win for Atletico with Diego Costa being the match winner.
Terry's Tips
- Sevilla 0, Atletico 1 (6-1, Unibet)
- Costa to score first (41-10, Unibet)
- Atletico clean sheet (17-10, 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.
What about Valencia? It is more interesting than these ones – two really attacking teams and suspicious odds.