Malaga vs Granada
Spanish La Liga
Date: Friday, 9th December 2016,
Kick-Off at 19:45 UK
Venue: La Rosaleda, Malaga.
This is the main derby for both of these clubs, although it’s not as fierce as some of the others in Spain. It tends to favour the side playing at home and certainly Malaga come into this match as strong favourites.
They are making real strides in the right direction under Juande Ramos and have perhaps surprisingly moved on from their defensive style that has been evident in recent seasons. They come into this match in good form having lost just one of their last eight matches which is very impressive when you consider they’ve travelled to both Barcelona and Atletico Madrid during that period. At home they’ve been really good of late scoring twice or more in all of their last five home games, winning the lot.
As a result they average 2.29 points per game at home this term, a record only 2 sides in La Liga can better. Both teams have scored in 71% of their home games though and even a shot-shy Deportivo La Coruna side netted three times in the last match at La Rosaleda, which Malaga still managed to win.
Therefore, Granada will feel they can cause a few problems of their own and they have really improved in recent weeks with only one defeat from their last five games. They are actually chasing a 3rd straight win here in all competitions but had failed to win all season prior to those two recent games. Both teams have scored in 79% of their league games this season and a huge 86% of their away fixtures so there does also tend to be goals at both ends when they play and as a result this promises to be a good game.
Malaga will certainly look to take the game to their local rivals and Ramos seems confident in his side’s ability to outscore weak opposition at home, so they will be happy if this develops into an open game which most Granada games this season have done. Therefore, backing both teams to score at 19/20 looks to offer value here.
Malaga vs Granada: Prediction
The Juande Ramos managed side have an excellent record at home in the current campaign and they are coming on the back of 5 straight wins. Also, their recent performances show that they are team in top form.
Granada might have ended their win-less run in the league last weekend, however they play best at home. They have lost in 4 of their 6 away matches this season and will be very cautious on Friday’s encounter. Based on the above stats, it is a very straight forward pick for this fixture to back the home side.
Malaga has scored at least 2 goals in each of their last 5 home games and also each scored the same number of goals in the last 5 home matches against Granada. And all those matches in review have seen over 2.5 goals. So it will be very useful to back them to score over 1.5 team goals in this fixture. And our primary pick for this match will be over 2.5 goals.
Malaga vs Granada: Bet Tips
Over 2.5 match goals at 1.97 (1/1).
Malaga to win at 1.70 (7/10)
Over 1.5 team goals for Malaga at 8/11 (1.72)
