La Liga Saturday Match Previews: October 30, 2010

Joe LazarOct 29, 2010

Valencia vs Real Zaragoza

Valencia’s epically good start to the season seems to have taken a little bit of a nose dive, which is a shame because it was making La Liga a little bit more interesting. On the bright side this is a great opportunity for the home side to pick up three points, seeing that this is traditionally a match which goes well and truly in their favour.

In fact, they have not lost at home to Real Zaragoza in their last 15 meetings. Valencia have been incredible to watch at the opening of each match scoring more goals than anybody else in the league within the first 15 minutes.

Zaragoza are on a terrible run of form. Ten matches without a win is not something that even the worst teams would consider acceptable.

Zaragoza currently sit at the bottom of La Liga which is not a good place to be at this point into the season, they have shown little signs of turning their season around and could well end up relegated and will certainly be involved in a relegation battle at the end of the season—not something which they would’ve expected before "La Liga" began. This match is not going to do them any favours, Valencia should take all three points.

Hercules vs Real Madrid

Hercules will not be looking forward to this. These matches never go their way and whilst they haven’t gotten off to the worst start to the season, this isn’t going to be of much comfort to a side going up against a group of players which form by far a better side. Expect them to play a very conservative match, as not conceding will be the only way they can hope for any points, their attack simply isn’t up to beating Real’s back four.

Real Madrid have never lost an away match against Hercules, they’ve racked up 15 wins and four draws in this fixture. The Spanish giants are unbeaten in their last 14 away matches and Hercules shouldn’t pose any real threat whatsoever.

They’re on a bit of a roll as it happens and have positioned themselves at the top of the table, granted they are only one point clear of champions Barcelona, but being at the top of the table is always something to be pleased about. The one point gap between them and their rivals is very important; it also means that they can’t afford to lose, especially not in a match like this one if they intend to win the league this season.

Barcelona vs Sevilla

Barcelona are one point behind Real Madrid although this early on not many people would think that it would make much difference. However, this is probably going to be Real’s best chance of extending their lead. Barcelona are going to need to win here, seeing as their big competition has an easy win this week.

This will not be easy for Barcelona as they are facing some solid competition, but if anybody is going to win this match then they certainly will. On the bright side this may well be a very enjoyable match to watch if you like to see lots of goals, seeing a Barcelona are well known for their prolific scoring and then there is the fact that Sevilla have kept only one clean sheet this whole season.

In the last 24 away games Sevilla have not drawn one match, they’ve lost 12 and won 12. This is bad for Sevilla in some way, seeing as the best chance of them taking anything from this match would be for them to draw. Despite their poor defensive record they have been on decent form in the last few matches.

The problem is that their attack is not going to counter balance any mistakes they make against Barcelona so they’ll need to tighten up at the back if they are going to get anything out of this game.