Real Betis vs Barcelona tips and predictions: Plucky hosts to maintain home form against stuttering Catalans
- Sergiu Baltuta
- 21 January 2024
Barcelona face a must-win game in the La Liga title race on Sunday evening (1730 GMT) but tipster Sergiu Baltuta is backing Real Betis to remain unbeaten at home.
The most intriguing match of La Liga’s round 21 sees Betis Sevilla face FC Barcelona.
Betis is in seventh place with 31 points, while the visitors are looking to stay close to the top of the table. The Catalans are in fourth place with 41 points, but they have a game in hand.
Both teams have a lot of unavailable players. Aitor Ruibal, Ayoze Perez, Guido Rodriguez and Marc Bartra, while Claudio Bravo, Juan Miranda and William Carvalho are doubts.
On the other hand, the Blaugrana will be without Marco Ter Stegen, Gavi, Marcos Alonso, Inigo Martinez, Raphinha, and Joao Cancelo, whose status is uncertain.
In the reverse fixture, Barcelona managed a 5-0 win, meaning the Catalans have won five on the spin against today’s opponents.
The white and Green’s last win against Barcelona was on December 4th 2021, when they stunned them 1-0 at Camp Nou. They haven’t beaten them at home since 2011.
In the previous round, Betis earned a 1-0 win over Granada thanks to a goal scored by Isco in the 76th minute. It was the first win in six games for Manuel Pellegrini’s team.
The White and Greens' games are often low-scoring affairs, with five of their last seven matches producing fewer than 2.5 goals.
But the most notable stat is they remain undefeated at home this season in La Liga and have gathered 22 points from 10 games at Benito Villamarin.
Despite winning four of their five matches in 2024, Barcelona aren’t in great shape. Their sole defeat was a 4-1 hammering against Real Madrid.
Barcelona earned a 3-1 victory over Unionistas, a team from the third division, on Thursday in a game where the hosts opened the scoring.
Their games are averaging just shy of four goals to kickstart 2024 so they’ve provided plenty of entertainment, which is a contrast to Betis.
Despite being undefeated away from home this season, Barcelona have failed to win more than half of their away matches, so it wouldn’t be a shock to see Betis pick up a point.
