Real Madrid vs Valencia Prediction & Betting Tips - LaLiga

Prediction published on 01/02/2023, 11:13  by Daniel Ngulu in LaLiga Predictions

Real Madrid’s La Liga title defence has encountered some headwinds in recent times. They will hope to avoid dropping any more points, when they get to host Valencia in their next league game. Los Blancos go into this game placed second on 42 points while Valencia are 14th with 20 points. A 0-0 draw with Real Sociedad in the last game saw Real Madrid fall five points behind leaders Barcelona and they can’t afford another slip up here. The loss to Villarreal in their first game of 2023 is what complicated things for the defending champions but they will hope to build on three clean sheets in the last four league games. Three times in the last five league matches, they’ve scored two and five wins in eight home games without a loss should give them the needed confidence for this game. Real Madrid will be without Ferland Mendy and Lucas Vazquez, both injured but they will be boosted by the return of David Alaba, Aurelien Tchouameni and Dani Carvajal. Karim Benzema has a great record against Valencia; he has scored in the last seven league meetings between the two sides.

Valencia will go into their first game without the Italian Gennaro Gattuso, who was released after a spate of poor results. The Italian’s last game in charge was Valencia’s 1-0 loss to Real Valladolid in the last game. It was their third straight game without a win, and they have managed just one point from their last four league matches. In the last 10 league matches, Valencia have managed just one win, a surprise 3-0 victory over Real Betis. Five losses in seven league games isn’t a run Valencia will look at with pride, and definitely not an away league run that they’ve failed to win in the last four matches. They’ve only scored more than a goal in two of their last 12 league matches away from home. Voro Gonzalez will lead Valencia as interim manager in this game. He will miss the services of Nico Gonzalez and Jaume Domenech who are out injured.