Sevilla v Real Madrid, Sunday 26th April

My Thoughts

With all the focus having been on Barcelona and Real Madrid, it's been easy not to notice Sevilla this season, who are on course for a Champions League place in 3rd, albeit 18 points behind Madrid. Their current form, admittedly, is poor- 3 defeats on the spit, although that run is as much a function of facing trips to Valencia (a horrendously-tempered match in which no fewer than 8 Sevilla players were booked, with Adriano picking up 2 yellows from referee Bernardino Gonzalez Vazquez) and Barcelona within 4 days of each other, as it is of any slump in form for Manolo Jimenez's side. Real Madrid, on the other hand, are flying right now, seemingly capable of playing with style and panache (witness their 5-2 destruction of Athletic Bilbao and their 6-1 demolition of Real Betis) and also grinding out results (witness last weekend's 1-0 win at Recreativo, and their midweek 3-2 win over Getafe).

The Verdict
Games between these two sides tend to be high-scoring- their last 15 meetings in La Liga have produced an utterly preposterous total of 61 goals- their meeting at the Bernabeu earlier this season was no exception, with Sevilla emerging as 4-3 winners. I foresee another high-scoring encounter here, with Real Madrid coming out on top. Away win

The Bet
There are some fantastic bets available here. Real Madrid can be backed at 9/5 with Stan James (keen observers of the blog will notice a distinct lack of recommendations for Ladbrokes. Real are 5/4 with them for this one. Pfft). Consideration must also be given to the over/under goal markets- Victor Chandler offer 2/1 on over 3.5 goals, with Sporting Bet offering 9/2 on over 4.5. Betfair also offer 24/5 on a hat-trick being scored, which should be considered given the goalscoring talent on both sides- Kanoute, Higuain, Luis Fabiano, Huntelaar and Raul could all have a field day. Higuain to repeat his exploits against Getafe and score the last goal is available at 6/1 with Paddy Power and Bet365.