Real Betis | Valencia |
Valencia CF had an unusual and frustrating game last weekend with the team going down 2-0 in the first half against Real Sociedad, with Soler missing a penalty in the middle of the first half to put Valencia CF up, then Real Sociedad punishing Valencia CF twice, due to some poor defending and passing by Valencia players.
With the way Valencia CF played it didn't seem like there is a chance to comebak at all, in fact with the silly mistakes players were making in the back it was a scare if we'd concede more goals and be embraced by Real Sociedad. Fortunately luck was on Valencia's side and the referee awarded Valencia CF another penalty, it was a soft penalty, the referee might have not given it and no one would have though anything of it, but as it so happen he did give the penalty and that time Daniel Wass was precise from the penalty spot. I was thinking 'okay we got one back, but its 1 goal from two penalties, how can we score from play' and then the unexpected happened, Gabriel Paulista who was at fault for the second goal scored the equalizer for Valencia CF with a powerful header.
Valencia CF gained confidence and momentum with those two goals and started attacking and being more aggressive, but Maxi Gomez had other plans, usually he doesn't help the team very much, if at all, but this time he actually hurt the team by getting himself sent off for protesting and insulting the referee.
This week Valencia CF is going up against Real Betis at their home turf and even though there is no fans in the stadiums and home terrain advantage is literally non existent, for some reason Valencia CF have been terrible away from home. In fact Valencia CF have won only 2 away matches this season, drawn 4 and lost 9 of the matches.
At home its been better, not by much, but relatively better, we've had 6 wins, 6 draws and only 3 loses, still not good enough, but if we applied the same statistics to our away games, then Valencia CF would have an additional 14 points which would have placed Valencia CF at 5th position on the table, fighting for Europa league spot.
In terms of stats and strength of the teams they are quite equally matched, Real Betis is quite far ahead of Valencia CF, as they have more wins, but in terms of scoring and conceding goals, in terms of ball possession, shots on target, its quite similar, its just that Real Betis doesn't make as many stupid mistakes in defense as Valencia CF and is able to grind out wins, while Valencia CF is always trying to catch up and undo its mistakes.
So I'm expecting a balanced match for the most part, again we have to take into consideration Valencia's terrible away form for no particular reason, so that dampens our hopes a bit, but its just psychological, there is nothing preventing Valencia CF from playing better and winning more away games, so maybe this will be the turnaround, I'm hopeful.
Valencia CF is still without Cillessen through injury, while both Maxi Gomez and Gabriel Paulista are suspended for this match.
- Real Betis have seen over 2.5 goals in their last 4 home matches against Valencia in all competitions.
- There have been over 2.5 goals scored in 5 of Valencia's last 6 games (LaLiga).
- Real Betis are undefeated in 9 of their last 10 home matches
- Betis were 2-1 victors in this fixture last season.
 Real Betis | Stat name |  Valencia |
|---|---|---|
| 30 | Games | 30 |
| 40 | Goals | 37 |
| 43 | Goals lost | 42 |
| 47% (14) | Wins | 27% (8) |
| 47% (5) | Draws | 27% (10) |
| 37% (11) | Defeats | 40% (12) |
| 1.33 | Goals per game | 1.23 |
| 1.43 | Goals lost per game | 1.40 |
| 10 (33%) | Clean sheets | 5 (17%) |
| 9.00 | Corners per game | 9.63 |
| 5.00 | Corners for per game | 4.47 |
| 4.00 | Corners against per game | 5.17 |
| 55.73% | Ball possession | 47.60% |
| 12.03 | Shots avg | 10.63 |
| 4.20 | Shots on goal avg | 3.63 |
| 1.43 | Offsides avg | 2.47 |
| 392.67 | Passes avg | 251.33 |
| 82.67% | Completed passes | 75.60% |
Valencia CF squad: Jaume, Correia, Diakhaby, Hugo, Gaya; Yunus, Soler, Wass, Cheryshev; Guedes, Gameiro.
Winning probability: Real Betis 60% win, 30% draw, Valencia CF 10% win
Result prediction: Real Betis 3-1 Valencia CF
Valencia CF is terrible away from home, while Real Betis is solid at home, VCF is without its best defender in Paulista, so its most likely going to be the pair of Diakhaby and Hugo, which is scare even to think of and considering we barely managed a draw last match, its looking highly unlikely that Valencia CF will get a good result here. Last encounter VCF lost 2-0 to Betis, this time they are at home as well so most likely a 3-1 loss. I think VCF will manage to score a goal, probably through Guedes, maybe even a Cheryshev assist, I'd bet on both teams scoring in this match and I'd bet on 2+ goals.