Osasuna vs Real Betis Preview & Prediction | 2024-25 Spanish Primera
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It has been a bizarre but extremely impressive start to the season for Osasuna as they begin the weekend sitting in the top four. They now welcome now perennial top seven finishers Real Betis to El Sadar in Pamplona.
KICK-OFF DATE/TIME: Saturday 19th October, 2024 - UK – 3:15pm / US ET – 10:15am / US PT – 7:15am
HOW TO WATCH ON TV: UK – Premier Sports / US – ESPN have the exclusive rights to La Liga games in the USA, so Osasuna vs Real Betis may be televised on one of their affiliated channels
HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: UK – Premier Sports / US – ESPN+
OSASUNA PREVIEW: CONFUSING OSASUNA
Over the summer, Osasuna lost the manager that took them to a Copa del Rey final as well as a seventh placed finish and UEFA Europa Conference League qualification in recent seasons in Jago Arrasate as he departed for Real Mallorca. Their appointment of Vicente Moreno as his replacement was met with widespread scepticism after his troubles with Almeria last season.
However, despite the fact that performances have been a little unconvincing and there is most certainly an over-reliance on El Sadar, the Navarre-based club have enjoyed a magnificent start to the season with four victories and three draws in their opening nine matches, including a 4-2 defeat of league leading Barcelona a few weeks ago.
REAL BETIS PREVIEW: PELLEGRINI’S BETIS
Former Real Madrid, Malaga, Manchester City and West Ham United manager Manuel Pellegrini is once again dealing with La Liga and European commitments in charge of Real Betis but, once again, is doing so quite well with the Andalusians losing some key and experienced players late in the summer transfer window such as Nabil Fekir and Ayoze Perez.
The Andalusians do come into this one on the back of just one win in their last five matches across all competitions, though. Their most recent outing saw them suffer a slender 1-0 defeat to arch-rivals Sevilla in El Gran Derbi a couple of weeks ago before the October international break at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.
OSASUNA TEAM NEWS: COUPLE OF INJURIES
Osasuna are dealing with a couple of injury issues for this weekend’s visit of Real Betis as experienced player Iker Munoz and Kike Barja both remain sidelined.
Vicente Moreno has been playing quite an attacking team with an emphasis on a fun and varied front three that includes Ante Budimir and Bryan Zaragoza.
PREDICTED XI (4-3-3): Sergio Herrera; Jesus Areso, Alejandro Catena, Boyomo, Abel Bretones; Pablo Ibanez, Lucas Torro, Aimar Oroz; Ruben Garcia, Budimir, Bryan Zaragoza
UNAVAILABLE: Iker Munoz (Injured), Kike Barja (Injured)
QUESTIONABLE:
REAL BETIS TEAM NEWS: NO LO CELSO
Former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Giovani Lo Celso has been outstanding since re-joining Real Betis late in the summer transfer window but he is sidelined through injury for this one.
As well as Lo Celso, Betis will be without Marc Roca as well as William Carvalho and Isco, whilst defender Youssouf Sabaly is also an injury doubt.
PREDICTED XI (4-2-3-1): Silva; Hector Bellerin, Diego Llorente, Natan, Rodriguez; Johnny Cardoso, Iker Losada; Pablo Fornals, Chimy Avila, Abde Ez; Vitor Roque
UNAVAILABLE: Marc Roca (Injured), Carvalho (Injured), Lo Celso (Injured), Isco (Injured)
QUESTIONABLE: Sabaly (Injured)
OSASUNA VS REAL BETIS PREDICTION
As mentioned, Vicente Moreno is playing quite an attacking style of football and that has been shown by the fact that Osasuna’s nine matches so far this season have consisted of 27 goals. They now face a Real Betis side that will also try and play quite attacking football, albeit without the cohesion and patterns of play that one would expect. Even without that, though, this should still be quite a fun watch in which both teams scoring seems a good bet.
OSASUNA VS REAL BETIS TIP: BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE
