Malaga vs Sevilla Betting Tips

There is no love lost between these two cities and the football clubs that carry their name. Sevilla’s bitter city rivals Betis may be back in the top flight this term but they will still be hungry for another win against a Malaga side that they did the double over last season.

The most recent meeting between the sides was on the last day of the 2014/2015 campaign also at Estadio la Rosaleda and if this game is as good as that one then it will certainly be worth watching. Goals from Jose Antonio Reyes, Ever Banega and Aleix Vidal gave Sevilla a 3 goal lead before Javi Guerra bagged a late brace to bring 10 man Malaga back into the game but the visitors were more concerned with the upcoming Europa League final by that point.

There have been a few comings and goings in Seville this summer as the club prepares for Champions League football having won the Europa League last term. They have brought Gael Kakuta and Steven N’Zonzi in on permanent deals from the Premier League while Ciro Immobile looks to be the replacement for outgoing Colombian forward Carlos Bacca. That said it could be Kevin Gameiro, who bagged 14 goals last term despite making only 12 starts, who could takeover the role as Sevilla’s main striker at least initially.

Gameiro started and scored in the incredible European Super Cup Final with Barcelona. Sevilla will take heart from the 5-4 defeat and had enough chances to win the game against what was very close to a full strength Barcelona side.

Malaga have also lost their main striker this summer with Juanmi joining Southampton but they have made a few signings with Adnane Tighadouini, who scored 14 goals from midfield in the Eredivisie last season perhaps the most exciting.

They faded badly in the second half of last season winning just one of their final 11 games and losing 4 of the last 5 including the final day defeat to Sevilla. While there have been a few changes at both clubs, the managers remain and so do their respective philosophies so it seems doubtful that anything will be greatly different when the sides meet less than 3 months later.

There are unlikely to be wholesale changes to either side to the ones that took to the field on the final day. Unai Emery is likely to stick with the players that served him so well last season and even without Bacca they are a genuinely high quality outfit.

Sevilla finished 26 points above Malaga in the end last season which is testament to the gulf in class that clearly exists and Javi Gracia hasn’t changed enough to suggest that it is likely to be much closer this season. Their rivals are the stronger outfit and are good value to win the game at 13/10.

Emery’s side have though been shipping goals as well as scoring them and they come into this game on the back of 5-4 and 6-4 defeats. Malaga don’t possess the same attacking threat as Barcelona or Roma but could well score here so a 3-1 away win looks to be worth a punt at long odds of 18/1.