Granada vs Real Sociedad Betting Tips

The pressure is on David Moyes to improve on a mid-table finish last season but the early signs have not been good. They’ve just 2 points from their opening 4 games and haven’t really played anyone you’d expect to be anything better than mid-table and the same certainly applies to this game against relegation candidates Granada and a side they really ought to be confident of beating.

Their old problems of not really scoring enough goals were in evidence in the opening weeks with successive 0-0 draws prior to a 1-0 defeat at Real Betis. They finally broke their duck for the season when Imanol Agirretxe gave them the lead on 20 minutes at home to Espanyol at the weekend. However the game turned on a 42nd minute penalty decision which saw their keeper dismissed and the visitors level.

They subsequently went on to lose 3-2 but will have taken some heart from their improvements in the final third and will feel a bit like their luck deserted them on the day. Therefore if Real Sociedad can start in the same manner here and keep all their players on the pitch, you’d fancy them to cause Granada a few problems and with 11 men they will be far more assured at the back as they usually are.

Granada are not a great side and won just 4 home games last season and have already been well beaten at home this term by Villlarreal and Eibar who both secured 3-1 wins at the  Estadio Nuevo Los Cármenes. Away from the pressure of the Anoeta, this might be the ideal game for Real Sociedad to pick up their first win of the season.

They possess more quality in both an attacking and defensive sense than Granada and if they can reproduce the opening 40 minutes against Espanyol over the course of a full game here, they should have enough to win.

Considering they aren’t regular winners on the road though it might be worth backing them to win in the ‘draw no bet’ market at 11/10. There is a bit of insurance, which could come in handy given that Granada were at times stubborn opposition last season and picked up a lot of home draws.

The Basques should also be boosted by the return from injury of Joseba Zaldúa and Alain Oiartzun for the clash. They displayed a slightly more positive mentality at the weekend even with only 10 men, so a repeat here could lead to a few goals in the game against a Granada side who have scored and conceded in all their games so far with the exception of the defeat at the Bernabeu at the weekend.

Therefore consider backing a more attack-minded Sociedad side, who need 3 points to really kick off their season to come here and win 2-1 at 11/1.