Welcome back to another Fantasy La Liga Five Tips for Gameweek 18 article. This week Callum Read returns ahead of Gameweek 18 with his top five tips.
Gary Neville is still yet to record a win as Valencia boss and things don't get much easier this weekend as he welcomes Real Madrid to the Mestalla Stadium. Elsewhere both Levante and Rayo Vallecano lost yet again and occupy the 20th and 19th spot with Granada sitting uncomfortably in 18th place. Don't forget to enter both MondoGoal and FantasyBet competitions to win some cash prizes.
As always, don't forget to check team news here before deciding your final squads and our prices are from our partners over at MondoGoal (MO) and FantasyBet (FB) Here are five tips for Gameweek 18 of La Liga.
Thanks for reading, good luck this weekend make sure you join us next week for another round of La Liga Daily Fantasy Football Tips.
Fixtures
Saturday 2nd January Espanyol vs Barcelona Atletico Madrid vs Levante Malaga vs Celta Vigo Sunday 3rd January Rayo Vallecano vs Real Sociedad Real Betis vs Eibar Granada vs Sevilla Deportivo La Coruna vs Villarreal Athletic Club Bilbao vs Las Palmas Valencia vs Real Madrid Sunday 4th January Sporting Gijon vs GetafeClean Sheet Potential
1. Atletico Madrid 2. Athletic Club Bilbao 3. Barcelona 4. Sporting Gijon & Sevilla 5. Real Betis & MalagaScoring Potential
1. Barcelona 2. Ateltico Madrid 3. Real Madrid 4. Athletic Club Bilbao 5. SevillaTake the Atletico defence over attack.
Diego Simeone's side sit join top of La Liga tied on points with Barcelona and welcome last placed Levante this weekend. You'd imagine the likes of Antoine Griezmann and Angel Correa would be licking their lips at this match up and many onlookers may agree with that. We'd suggest backing the Atletico defence over their attack and here's why. Atletico Madrid have only conceded eight goals all season with five of them coming in front of their own fans. Levante although sitting at the foot of the table haven't more than two goals in seven league games games. Stick with Jan Oblak (MO:10.6m, FB:6.5m), Diego Godin (MO:10.2m, FB:7.0m) Gimenez (MO:8.5m, FB:6.0m) Filipe Luis (MO:9.7m, FB:5.5m) and Juanfran (MO:8.5m, FB:6.5m)Athletic Club Bilbao to score plenty.
The San Mames Stadium welcomes Las Palmas this weekend, Athletic Club manager Ernesto Valverde will be looking to send the Canarian side back home in low sprits. Las Palmas have the second worse away form in La Liga (W0 D2 L6) and have conceded 18 goals on their travels. The home side however boast a record of five wins one draw and two losses in front of their own fans and are coming off the back of a 1-0 win over Celta Vigo. The spirits in the Athletic Club side will be high; look at Aduriz (MO:13.5m, FB:10.0m), Inaki Williams (MO:6.5m, FB:6.5m) and Raul Garcia (MO:8.8m, FB:8.0m) to score goals.Bookings in the Catalunya Derby.
Espanyol host their great rivals this weekend in what is bound to be a feisty affair. Espanyol have never beaten Barcelona at Cotnellà-El Prat, even more so their new Romanian manager Constantin Gâlca failed to beat the Champions in eight games as an Espanyol player and two whilst playing for Villarreal. Espanyol have acquitted the tag of Spain's dirtiest team with the hosts averaging 3.82 cards per game. The referee for the game is Jose Luis Gonzalez Gonzalez who averages just over 6 bookings per game. The game should play out with the Espanyol players picking up their customary bookings but also the Barcelona back line collecting a couple as well.Goals galore for Rayo Vallecano and Real Sociedad.
Atletico missed out on the chance to go top of the league in Gamweek 16 losing 1-0 to Malaga. The performance wasn't the best and they really lacked that cutting edge up front. This weekend they travel to Madrid rivals Rayo Vallecano who under Paco Jemez have become many peoples second sides. Paco's side plays without fear and throw men forwards in an attempt to score, this will leave plenty of room for Diego Simeone's side to expose on the counter attack. The Argentine manager has had to dwell on the loss to Malaga for a few weeks now and will be determined to put it behind him with a win at Campo de Futbol de Vallecas.Valencia vs Real Madrid to have plenty of goals.
Although Real Madrid came out 3-1 winners against Real Sociedad in Gameweek 17 they had a huge stroke of luck from both the referee and some shoddy finishing from La Real's frontline; meanwhile Valencia lacked a cutting edge upfront in their 1-0 loss to rivals Villarreal. This Rafa Benitez takes his side to his old stomping ground and will be looking to silence his critics. We expect Valencia to be aggressive, quick and press Madrid high up the pitch, the game looks to have goals from both teams. For this matter we'd suggest staying away from both Valencia and Real Madrid defenders and goalkeepers.Thanks for reading, good luck this weekend make sure you join us next week for another round of La Liga Daily Fantasy Football Tips.
