Alaves vs Eibar
Spanish La Liga
Date: Thursday, 27th April 2017
Kick-off at 18:30 UK / 19:30 CET
Venue: Estadio Mendizorrotza (Vitoria-Gasteiz).
Both these sides are having great seasons and the bookies are struggling to pick a favourite for this one. However it just feels like Eibar have hit a bit of a poor run of form and with home advantage, Alaves look the side more likely to come out on top.
Eibar played on Monday night in another Basque derby against Athletic Bilbao but suffered a rare home defeat, losing 1-0. Therefore they won’t come into this game in the best of spirits and the fact they’ve had one fewer day to prepare also gives Alaves a slight advantage. Prior to that match, they also lost, somewhat surprisingly against Betis and perhaps they are now just feeling the pressure of being in a battle for European football for the first time in the club’s history. That defeat to Athletic, who have the same ambitions, may just have ended their chances of reaching the Europa League and there may be a somewhat deflated feel in their camp now.
Alaves are in their first campaign back at this level and they’ve given a really good account of themselves. They are stronger defensively than Eibar, conceding just 1.21 goals per game this term. Eibar have let in 1.56 per game on the road so a patient Alaves side should get opportunities. At the other end they’ll back themselves to keep things pretty tight. They’ve avoided defeat in 75% of their home games this season and 2 of their 4 defeats were against Barcelona and Real Madrid.
With just 6 defeats in their last 29 games in all competitions, they’ve cemented themselves as a tough side to beat. Eibar have won more games than them but they seem more suited to playing against teams that attack them and leave themselves vulnerable at the back, which certainly isn’t the way Alaves go about things. Eibar may have won 5 away matches in La Liga this season but 2 were against sides in the drop-zone while there was an element of fortune to their other away wins with both Celta Vigo and Villarreal missing many key players while Valencia were reduced to 10 men in the 1st Half.
Alaves won’t give them anything for free. This is likely to be a tight game so it would be a risk to back either to win it outright but the value bet looks to be Alaves 0.0 Asian Handicap 1.925 as they are the more consistent side and they could just sneak this with the visitors suffering a dip in form and having had less time to prepare for the game.
Alaves vs Eibar: Head-to-head
The reverse fixture of the current campaign was a boring goal-less draw. However, this is the first stalemate between the two sides in 11 matches. Eibar has been the better side during the period with 7 wins to their name as against 4 defeats.
The home record of Alaves against Eibar is 2 wins and 3 losses from last 5 games.
Alaves vs Eibar: Prediction
The momentum is with Alaves after a brilliant home win against Villarreal and away draw at Las Palmas. The confidence in Eibar camp will be low after falling to back-to-back La Liga defeats without scoring for the first time in this season. This could become three on the bounce as Alaves look good to edge a narrow win on Thursday.
Eibar scored in 13 of their 16 away games this season. Meanwhile, Alaves conceded in 10 of their last 12 home games. Therefore, both teams to score look like a good alternate option for this game.
Alaves vs Eibar: Bet Tips
FT Result – Alaves to win at 2.70 with Betfair.
Both Teams to Score at 1.93 with Unibet.
