Top vs Bottom Matches Define Saturday Football Day in Europe
Published December 14, 2019 by Florin P
The best English, German and Spanish teams continue their title-chasing quest with must-win matches against teams trying to avoid relegation.
Most of the football games scheduled for the weekend in top European football leagues will take place on Saturday. Instead of the highly anticipated derbies, punters will have the opportunity to bet on some lopsided games involving reigning champions and relegation-threatened squads. The stakes are high on both ends, but the predictable outcomes come at the price of lower odds forcing punters to get creative.
Lopsided Matches Mark Round 17 of the Premier League
Liverpool, Leicester and Chelsea will all play at home this Saturday against the likes of Watford, Norwich and Bournemouth. The former are teams with solid home records and they all sit comfortably inside Top 4, while their opponents try to avoid relegation this season. Not surprisingly, the combined odds on the hosts to win don’t exceed 9/10 at bet365 Sports.
Chelsea and Liverpool have won the Champions League matches midweek and have secured qualification to the playoffs. Fatigue can be an issue for these two teams but the poor offensive abilities of Watford and Bournemouth should render this handicap irrelevant. Leicester focus exclusively on the Premier League and with no players missing for suspended, they are entitled to hope for the 10th consecutive victory.
Bundesliga Title Hopefuls take on Relegation Threatened Teams
Bayern Munich are virtually unrecognizable this season in the German first division where they sit in the seventh-place after 14 matches. Losing to the leader last weekend was particularly painful for them, but they should return to their winning ways on Saturday afternoon. They play against Werder Bremen in a match where the odds on a home win don’t exceed 3/20.
Dortmund and Leipzig play on the road and if they are to stay within striking distance of M’Gladbach, they both need to win. Dortmund has a difficult mission against Mainz, especially after spending significant resources midweek in the Champions League. Leipzig should be able to defeat Düsseldorf, as suggested by the odds of 1/2 offered by 888 Sport.
La Liga Brings the Most Exciting Saturday Football Games
Punters looking for more exciting games should focus their attention on the Spanish top-flight. Barcelona play on the road against Real Sociedad and they are priced at 3/4 by Winner Sports after a largely disappointing performance on the road this season. Athletic Bilbao get identical odds to defeat their Basque rivals at home, a victory that could propel them straight to the fourth place.
In the last match of the day, scheduled at 8 PM UK time, Atletico Madrid welcomes Osasuna at Wanda Metropolitano. The stadium will be packed with enthusiastic supporters and pressure on the newly promoted visiting team will be tremendous. At odds of 1/2, punters should consider Atletico Madrid for what should be a victory to nil that will allow them to leapfrog four other teams.
