Real Betis vs Sevilla Betting Tips

It’s 3 King’s Day in Spain when presents are traditionally exchanged but neither of these two sides will be in much mood for handing out gifts given this is the fiercest local derby in Spanish football. This is the 7th time the two clubs have met in a Copa del Rey knock-out tie with Sevilla winning 5 of them and they also progressed on penalties when the sides met in the Europa League in their most recent cup encounter in 2014. They had to settle for a point when they visited Betis in December though as their league encounter ended in a 0-0 draw and it’s likely to be close again here.

That is despite the fact that Real Betis were on the wrong end of a humiliating 4-0 home defeat against Eibar at the weekend in La Liga, following on from a 4-0 loss at Barcelona in their only other game since the last Seville derby.

Sevilla were beaten surprisingly at the weekend too though as they lost 2-1 at Granada to continue their horrendous away form, which is the only reason they aren’t competing strongly in the top four. Their only away win in 14 attempts this season came at 3rd tier Logrones in the last round and given their lowly standing we shouldn’t read too much into that.

Given it’s a local derby, both teams should put out fairly strong sides here but given Sevilla’s awful away record, it’s hard to understand why they are as short as 5/6 favourites to win this and you can get decent value in backing Real Betis to avoid defeat at Evens.

Real Betis have only won twice at home this season though and are much stronger away from home so to some extent both sides might be looking forward to the 2nd leg of this one and this could well end up like the league clash did in a draw.

It’s likely to be tight again but with both sides looking a little unconvincing defensively we might see goals this time and at 11/2 you can back it to finish 1-1.