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 games.
Atletico Madrid v Las Palmas (Sun 3.15pm)
It’s been a disastrous week for Diego Simeone and his team and they need to bounce back in this game at home against ideal opponents.
Drawing at home last week against Girona in the league and then being knocked out of the Copa del Rey by Sevilla on Tuesday has led to Simeone coming into some criticism for the first time in his reign. Rightly so in my opinion.
They have had too many draws in the league, that was their second against newly promoted Girona. Incidentally, the final would probably have been a home game for them with The Wanda Metropolitano earmarked as the venue.
Las Palmas got a surprise morale boosting win last week against Valencia but it’s probably a shame for them that their next game is away against an angry and determined Atleti.
It might help that Diego Costa is unavailable through injury but they still will have to defend against Griezmann and Gameiro.
Terry's Tips
- Atletico 3, Las Palmas 0 (23-4, Unibet)
- Griezmann to score first (51-20, Unibet)
- Atletico win to nil (37-50, Unibet)
Barcelona v Alaves (Sun 7.45pm)
The only problems Barca boss Ernesto Valverde has is picking his starting line-up after the signings of new players Coutinho and Yerry Mina. He is even helped by the fact that Iniesta and Alcacer have returned to fitness.
Alaves contested extra time and penalties against Valencia in midweek and that maybe will have a bearing on their physical capabilities in this game against Barcelona.
Former Barca player Abelardo is doing a tremendous job since taking over at a team who finished ninth last season and faced Barcelona in the Copa del Rey final and it appears that their third manager of the season is getting things back on track.
They did also win here last season with Ibai Gomez getting the winner in a 2-1 victory, so there will be a little bit of belief.
However, I don’t see Barcelona making the same mistake they made last season and underestimating their opponents.
The goalscoring exploits of Messi and Suarez make this impossible to back against Barcelona. Between them they have 34 goals in the league which is a higher tally than 15 teams have in total this season in La Liga.
Suarez has scored in his last seven, accumulating 10 of his 15 so far this season, it’s fair to say that his form has returned with a vengeance. Incidentally he has never scored in eight consecutive league games in his career.
Messi leads the way in the league with 19 scored so far and they were both in great form last week at Betis getting two goals apiece and I’m backing them both to score again in this game.
I’m predicting a 4 goal haul and a clean sheet this week for Barcelona with, (toss of the coin) Suarez getting the first!
Terry's Tips
- Barca 4, Alaves 0 (13-2, Unibet)
- Suarez to score first (49-20, Unibet)
- Barca to score over 3.5 goals (evens, 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.
well done on the atletico game mr Gibson spot on there