La Liga Predictions, Picks and Betting Preview – Matchday 3 August 25-27

Betting Preview for La Liga Matches August 25-27

WagerTalk La Liga handicapper Kevin Dolan presents his August 25-27 La Liga predictions and betting preview around key matchday 3 La Liga matches including Las Palmas vs Real Sociedad and Villarreal vs Barcelona. Which teams is he looking to pick up points and which will have goal scoring? Read his La Liga betting tips now!

Las Palmas vs Real Sociedad | Friday August 25 | 1:30pm ET

Las Palmas +315 | Real Sociedad +105 | Draw +215

Last season’s 4th-place finishers Real Sociedad have gotten off to a less-than-ideal start to their 2023/24 LaLiga campaign by generating just two points across their opening two games of the season.

The Royals were unable to hang onto an early lead against Girona back in Matchday 1, and suffered again last week against Celta Vigo also, with the White & Blues giving up a late 94th-minute equalizer to continue their winless run to start the year.

Manager Imanol Alguacil will be hoping it’s third time lucky for his side this weekend against newly-promoted Las Palmas who lost narrowly to Valencia last week after securing a draw against Mallorca in their opening game.

However, with both of Real Sociedad’s opening two games of the season taking place in San Sebastian, a long trip south to the Canary Islands is probably the last thing Alguacil would have wanted in order to kickstart his season.

Real Sociedad will also be hampered by the ongoing injury of influential midfielder Mikel Merino ahead of this one, who will be out for at least another few weeks, with 2021/22 club top scorer Mikel Oyarzabal likely on his way out of the door also.

Real Sociedad has won both of the recent meetings in Gran Canaria against Las Palmas, but prior to that had won none going all the way back to 2009.

This looks like an incredibly difficult game to handicap on Friday, and one likely decided by the smallest of margins as a result, so we’re taking the Real Sociedad to win by exactly 1 goal prop at +210 as our play for this one.

Prediction: Real Sociedad To Win by 1 Goal (+210)

Sevilla vs Girona | Saturday August 26 | 3:30pm ET

Sevilla +110 | Girona +250 | Draw +245

A team who many expected to be a dark horse this year after all of their issues last season, Sevilla are a side who have really stalled to open up their LaLiga campaign so far across August.

It’s not really news to anyone at this point just how much Sevilla struggled to start last season, with the club losing two managers in the process of what was a dismal first half of the campaign before highly experienced manager Jose Luis Mendilibar came in to steady the ship for Sevilla at the end of March.

The Andalusian side looking a lot more composed as a result as they rapidly turned into one of the best teams not just in Spain, but in Europe also.

Sevilla, under Mendilibar, ratched up the table rapidly under his guidance to finish off last season, ranking as the 5th best team in the league from March 21st on (when he took the job), along with the 4th best team in terms of defensive goals allowed also.

Sevilla used that defensive blueprint to only get themselves clear of relegation trouble in the league, but also go on a run that would eventually see them lift last season’s Europa League trophy as well.

However, all of that progress hasn’t appeared for them at the start of this year’s campaign, as Sevilla faces a tricky home test against a Girona side this weekend that has gone unbeaten to start the season, and who sits 4th in the league table as well.

After an impressive 1-1 draw against Real Sociedad in their opening game, Girona absolutely hammered Getafe 3-0 last week with goals from Yangel Herrera along with a brace from Christian Stuani also.

Sevilla will need to get back and do what they do best in this one if they’re going to come away with a positive result on Saturday, namely shutting down this Girona attack and using their defense to try and grind out a win.

Because of that, we’re expecting a more subdued type of game this weekend over at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, and one in which Sevilla looks to slow the game down and grab their first win of the season at home.

Prediction: Under 2.5 (-115)

Villarreal vs Barcelona | Sunday August 27 | 11:30am ET

Villarreal +260 | Barcelona +100 | Draw +270

Villarreal hosts Barcelona this weekend in a spot both teams will circle as a potential game to kickstart their respective seasons after less-than-ideal starts.

Villarreal kicked off their season with an outright loss against Real Betis back in Matchday 1, and then needed to dig deep last week against Mallorca in order to rescue the win also.

Barcelona meanwhile also hasn’t impressed, drawing against Getafe in their opening game, and then looking extremely pedestrian in breaking down Cadiz last week also.

Barcelona have won in each of their last four visits to the Estadio de la Ceramica to take on Villarreal, but Villarreal’s numbers from last season were absolutely electric, and we can’t help but be intrigued by them engineering a potential result in this game.

Villarreal ranked as Liga’s #1 team by a fairly clear margin in terms of offensive xG over the back half of last season, well clear of Barcelona in 4th spot, and they had the league’s best-expected points tally at home over the back half of last season as well.

So we can’t help feeling the outright draw looks like a huge price in this one given how good The Yellow Submarine have looked at home across recent seasons.

We’re taking the outright draw on Sunday between Barcelona and Villarreal as both teams likely play out a close, competitive game this weekend in eastern Spain.

Prediction: Draw (+270)