Betting Update; Sevilla v Barcelona with the bookmakers making Barcelona their 6/5 favourites

Added: (Fri Nov 28 2008)

Pressbox (Press Release) - It’s a case of the irresistible force against the immovable object as Barcelona travel to Seville for the stand-out La Liga fixture on Saturday evening.

The league’s top scorers face a Sevilla side with the best defensive record in the division at the start of a run of games that will define both of their seasons and provide neutrals with a truly mouth-watering series of games leading up to Christmas.

Both sides are playing the rest of the top five (Real Madrid, Valencia & Villarreal) in successive games as La Liga really starts to kick into top gear. The question is: can all-conquering Barca continue their form against the best in the country?

They will certainly have their work cut out at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan as Sevilla have several positives to take into the game. Manuel Jimenez’s side are unbeaten in their last 4 league games and come here off the back of a hard-fought 0-0 draw with Valencia last time out to keep themselves just 5 points off the La Liga pace. This has been achieved thanks to an absolutely rock-solid defence who have conceded just 8 goals in their 12 games to date and they haven’t conceded a goal in a domestic fixture for their last 4 consecutive games (over 5 hours of football). At home this record is equally formidable, with just 1 goal shipped in their last 5 and that back-line will be boosted by the return of Sebastian Squillaci & Julien Escude, who have both been passed fit to play. Up front, the brilliant Luis Fabiano (24 goals last season) is also expected to shake off a knock and will cause plenty of problems for Carlos Puyol and co.

As for Barca, the whole of Europe is aware of just how prolific their front line has been this season with a league record 36 goals scored in their first 11 games of the campaign. However, a run of 9 successive league wins was ended last weekend when unfancied Getafe took a point away from the Nou Camp and the majority of the first XI started the Champions League game at Sporting Lisbon on Wednesday so freshness may be an issue. Guardiola’s charges do have an impeccable away record to date, though, with 5 straight league wins on the road and just 3 goals conceded in that time.

The Catalans are a BP 5/4 to get the job done yet again, with Sevilla 23/10 and the draw 5/2.

Given the prices, we think going against all recent form and laying Barca at around 2.22 on the exchanges represents the best betting opportunity of the evening. The Blaugrana do not have a good record at this stadium and have not won a game here since the 2004/05 season, leaving with 2 defeats and a draw since then (it took a late Xavi goal to rescue a point last time). Furthermore, Sevilla have an excellent record against the big sides at home, with none of the top 3 from last season coming out of Andalusia with 3 points – Real Madrid & Villarreal both losing 2-0 and Barca scraping a 1-1 draw. The visitors also had a habit of struggling away against the better sides last season – in fact, they lost at all of the other top four sides (Villarreal 1-3, Atletico Madrid 2-4 & Real Madrid 1-4) and didn’t win at any of the top 6 - given they haven’t been to a title challenger this time around, there is no evidence yet that they are capable of grinding out those sort of wins this season. With Sevilla fresh from 7 days rest and rarely giving an inch at home this term, this could be a step too far for the visitors and they are worth opposing at around 5/4.

Recommended Bets - 4 pts - Lay Barcelona, Around 2.22 Betfair

• All prices correct at time of writing.

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