Valencia hosts Almeria in the 19th round of the Spanish Primera Division. A win is a must for Valencia after Sevilla grabbed the 4th place for them, having 1 point ahead and 1 less game played.


Valencia is coming after a 2-0 defeat at Espanyol which meant elimination from the Copa Del Rey … it was the second bad game for Valencia after last week they barely got a 1-1 draw at Celta and Celta could have won. But “Los Che” have extenuating circumstances for the cup loss, because they played more than 75 minutes with 10 men (Mustafi red card) and even so managed to keep a clean sheet until the 80th minute. Now Valencia will hope that they can get back to winning ways at home … where they have been dominant and defeated Real Madrid two weeks ago playing some really top class football. Team news for Valencia say that Piatti and Otamendi are unavailable.



Almeria not doing so well lately … 2 losses and 1 draw in the last 3 games, scoring just 1 goal. Last week they lost 2-0 at home to Sevilla and followed that up with a 1-0 cup defeat to Getafe, sending them out of the Copa Del Rey. Visitors would love a point here as they are now tied for the 18th place with Levante and relegation looms. Team news for Almeria say that Bifouma, Martinez and Gonzalez are all unavailable.

Valencia is so strong at home, only Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao took points here in Primera. Also 6 of their 7 home wins in Primera Division came by a form of handicap, only Real Madrid managing to “only lose” by 1 goal. Hosts have so much quality in their roster and this is the perfect opportunity to recover after two matches without a win. Almeria is playing bad football at the moment … expect a solid performance by Valencia and a classic home win by 2 or 3 goals. My tips here will be Valencia to win and cover the 1,5 goal handicap in the process. Correct score prediction: Valencia – Almeria 3-0.

Pick: Valencia -1,5
Odds: 2.05