La Liga: Real Madrid Ready to Take Another Step Toward Title

Real Madrid vs Alaves

Real Madrid are closing in on the La Liga crown. With just four games left in the season, Los Blancos remain a point ahead of rivals Barcelona, who kept up the pressure after their Catalan derby win over Espanyol.

Zinedine Zidane’s side now has a great opportunity to take another big step toward securing the championship as they host struggling Deportivo Alaves.

Alaves have had a disastrous time since the restart as they’ve yet to pick up a win. And the La Liga 2020 betting odds certainly don’t fancy them pulling off a shock upset against the title favourites.

Talking Points

Real must cope without their captain

Real Madrid look set to claim their first La Liga title since 2017. Their La Liga 2020 results since the restart have been outstanding, with seven wins out of seven.

They claimed their third straight 1-0 win after beating Athletic Bilbao at San Mames. And for the second game running, their winning goal came courtesy of a late Sergio Ramos penalty.

Sergio Ramos is set to miss Real Madrid’s La Liga match against Alaves — Real Madrid’s Sergio Ramos celebrates after opening the scoring against Getafe

Ramos, who became the all-time leading scorer among La Liga defenders last month, has been on an incredible scoring binge since the restart. He’s actually Real’s top scorer during that time with five goals in seven games, although three of those goals have come from the penalty spot.

However, Ramos has also racked up yellow cards since the restart and is now suspended for the match against Alaves. Starting right-back Dani Carvajal will also serve a ban due to an accumulation of yellow cards.

Aside from his goalscoring, Real will also miss Ramos’ leadership in defence. With Ramos marshalling the backline, Real have conceded just two goals in seven games since the restart.

Eder Militao and Ferland Mendy are expected to fill in for Ramos and Carvajal. Both of them played in Real’s first meeting with Alaves this season.

On the other end of the pitch, Real’s attack has gone a bit off the boil of late, which is why Ramos’ penalties have been so crucial. Benzema hasn’t scored in each of his last four games, although he did supply that incredible assist to Casemiro in their win over Espanyol.

Manager Zinedine Zidane will have to continue to rely on Benzema, though, especially with Eden Hazard doubtful due to an ankle injury and Luka Jovic out after being in contact with a friend who tested positive for COVID-19.

Alaves in awful form, especially away from home

Alaves will come into this match against Real Madrid in horrific form. They’ve lost six of their seven matches since the restart, including the last five in a row.

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They began the restart with a loss to bottom club Espanyol. They were also on the receiving end of an embarrassing 6-0 defeat to Celta Vigo a few weeks ago.

All in all, Alaves have won just once in their last nine games. And perhaps not coincidentally, their dip in form came as their status in La Liga looked relatively safe. They are currently in 16^th place, six points up on 18th-placed Mallorca and are highly unlikely to be relegated at this point.

It’s surprising Alaves aren’t in more trouble considering they’ve scored the fourth-fewest goals (32) and allowed the fourth-most (51) this season.

Alaves’ away form has also been disastrous. They’ve picked up just nine points in 17 away games — the second-fewest in the league — while conceding 37 goals.

History

Real Madrid have dominated Alaves in their matchups since the latter returned to La Liga in 2016. Real have won six of their seven meetings, including all three games at home by three or more goals.

They beat Alaves away in their first meeting this season. Ramos once again was on target as he gave Real the lead early in the second half. Lucas Perez equalised from the penalty spot, but Dani Carvajal scored Real’s winner just four minutes later.

Betting Tip

	Real Madrid vs Alaves	Real Madrid Asian Handicap -1.50 @ 1.74
	July 11, 4:00 (GMT+8)

SBOBET odds have Alaves at an astronomical 12.00 to pull off a win against Real, which would be the single most shocking result in the league if it does happen. Real are big 1.25 favourites to keep their perfect record post-restart intact, while the draw is 5.40.

All the signs point toward a Real win, it’s just a matter of by how many goals they’ll win by. I’m leaning toward the -1.50 goals on the Asian Handicap market.

While Real’s attack has been unconvincing of late, this matchup against Alaves is the perfect one for Zidane’s side to turn up the style a bit. And on the other end, it’s hard to see this Alaves side with basically nothing left to play for getting a goal even against a Real defence missing two key stars.