With the Basque Derby and Sunday’s live ITV 4 game between Villarreal and Real Madrid featuring on Matchday 3, there’s plenty to look forward to in La Liga over the weekend. We take a glance at the key fixtures coming up and put forward some alternative betting tips and predictions for you to consider.

Remember, you can find our predictions and betting tips for every La Liga game this weekend here.

Sevilla vs Celta Vigo

Sevilla vs Celta Vigo opens up Matchday 3 at Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan and we should be set for a good contest after both teams claimed important 1-0 victories last week against Granada and Valencia respectively.

This fixture usually entertains and generates lots of goals, with five of the last six producing over 2.5. Interestingly though, clashes between Sevillistas and Celestes tend to be tight early on before opening up in the later stages, with the second half ‘outscoring’ the first period in five of those last half dozen meetings.

Factor in last season’s overall stats which saw 62% goals in matches involving these sides scored in the second half and a decent case can be made for a similar scenario here. The even money on offer for Most Goals in the 2nd Half presents clear value for punters to kick start the La Liga weekend on a winning note.

Athletic Bilbao vs Real Sociedad

Fri 30th Aug (KO 21:00)

The Basque Derby is always a feisty and hard fought encounter. This Friday’s renewal should follow suit after impressive starts to the 2019/20 campaign from both sides who have collected four points from a possible six.

Bilbao are now unbeaten in 15 consecutive La Liga matches at San Mames following their tremendous 1-0 success against champions Barcelona on the opening night, where they were as dogged and tenacious as ever.

Gaizka Garitano’s men really put the squeeze on Catalan giants, particularly in the first half, and there should be no reason why Los Leones won’t take a similar approach here against their main adversaries.

It’s no surprise that Bilbao have conceded just five first half goals in their last 20 home fixtures, however Sociedad aren’t too shabby in that department either having shipped just 12 in their last 20 away.

On that basis and with usual derby mentality likely to mean that little is given away early on, backing a 0-0  HT Correct Score stands out as a great bet for Friday’s late kick-off at San Mames.

Osasuna vs Barcelona

Sat 31st Aug (KO 16:00)

Last season’s Segunda winners square off against the La Liga champions at Estadio El Sadar and we’re expecting Los Rojillos to make life difficult for the Catalan giants after a solid start to life back in the top flight.

Jagoba Arrasate’s side have kept consecutive clean sheets following a 0-1 victory at Leganes on the opening day and a 0-0 draw here against Eibar last week – a result which extended Osasuna’s unbeaten run at home in league competition to 26 matches.

Barcelona will undoubtedly put that fine sequence under threat, but Osasuna’s mettle should at least see the hosts hold out until late in the day. It’s also worth remembering that Barca have only won one of their last six La Liga matches on the road, so backing Osasuna/Draw HT Double Chance looks a good shout.

Villarreal vs Real Madrid

Sun 1st Sep (KO 20:00)

Sunday night’s live ITV4 game comes from Estadio de la Ceramica and it should be a thriller as Villarreal clash with Real Madrid.

These teams typically produce a glut of goals when they meet and their last fixture in May was no exception, as Real ran out 3-2 winners at Santiago Bernabeu. That was the fifth time in the last six encounters where four or more goals have been netted and we can surely anticipate more of the same here as Matchday 3 draws to a close.

We’re expecting Los Merengues to come out on top as they have beaten Villarreal more than any other team in La Liga history and were also backing Karim Benzema To Score Anytime. The French No.9 struck 21 times last term and already has two goals to his name this time around, so he should get plenty of joy against this fragile Villarreal rear guard.

Back our selections as an accumulator at 16/1!

Like the look of all our picks? You can back them all in an accumulator now at odds of 16/1!