La Liga Tips: Back 4/1 Kylian Mbappe brace against struggling Espanyol | OneFootball

Spanish LaLiga

Kylian Mbappe has been in scintillating form in La Liga of late

Ahead of matchday 22 in La Liga, Jamie Kemp previews three fixtures across the weekend, including Real Madrid and Kylian Mbappe's trip to face relegation-threatened Espanyol...

Villarreal v Real Valladolid - Sat, 15:15

Real Valladolid's situation is looking increasingly bleak. La Liga's bottom side are now six points adrift of safety, and some recent developments in their squad only promise to make their life harder than it already was. Their best defender Juma Bah has just departed, their best attacker Raul Moro is out for an extended period, and they've just seen one of their better midfielders in Kike Perez depart for Italian football.

It's hard not to have the feeling that those on the inside, who can see what's occurring, are already thinking about their next moves as the Valladolid ship sinks deeper and deeper.

La Liga's bottom side have conceded the most goals overall this season (42), and it's the same story away from home (a league-high 27 conceded). Indeed, Valladolid have lost the most away games in the Spanish top-flight this season, suffering defeats on nine of their 10 total trips.

Villarreal, meanwhile, look as if they might be rounding the corner on some inconsistent results and finally finding their feet as far as pushing for the top four goes. Marcelino's side have consistently performed better than their results have suggested, and after two positive results in thrashing Mallorca 4-0 and then getting a superb 1-1 draw away to Atletico Madrid (a place where view leave with anything), their confidence should be at a high point too.

The one difficulty on their season has been keeping teams out on the defensive end, but things have improved there of late and Valladolid are the league's lowest scorers too (14). This should be a game where the Yellow Submarine can do what they do best - score goals - without much resistance coming the other way given the present state of their opponent. Only Barcelona (59) and Real Madrid (50) have scored more often than Villarreal (39) in La Liga this season, and so I'll look to the goalscorer market for them here.

Alex Baena is usually their chief creator, but he's netted in each of his last three league games at La Ceramica. At 6/4 to score anytime, I'll take him to follow that up with a fourth at home to a Valladolid side they could rip through, if they have their day.

Espanyol v Real Madrid - Sat, 20:00

Brest were soundly beaten by Real Madrid in midweek, but if there were any positives to take from it, they should consider keeping Kylian Mbappe at bay among them. The Frenchman has caught fire in recent months for his new club, and decidedly looks to have turn the corner following a difficult start to life in Spain.

Over on domestic duty, Mbappe has been playing at a frightening level for a good period now. Since MD14 in La Liga, the Real Madrid man ranks first in the competition for goals (9), xG (6.6), shots (34), shots on target (21) and touches in the opposition box (73). And although his numbers weren't exactly terrible before that, Mbappe is now hiking up his output while looking a lot more natural in doing so. Football has started to look easy for him again.

Indeed, he's been feasting on lower ranked teams of late too. Mbappe has helped himself to five goals in his last two league outings, against Las Palmas and Real Valladolid, including a hat-trick in the latter. It's an ominous sign for an Espanyol team who come into this one in the relegation zone, and who have only kept one clean sheet in their last 18 matches in La Liga.

With the form Real Madrid are currently in, it's hard to imagine anything other than three points for the away side here, as they look to keep their foot on the gas in La Liga's title race. And now that their star player Kylian Mbappe has arrived to the level that everyone was expecting from him, this could be the point where they can really start putting the wins together. A fifth straight league victory would be their longest run since last May, during their last successful push for the title.

Mbappe has scored at least 2+ goals in his last two league outings, both against sides in a similar predicament to Espanyol. I'll back him to make it three in a row here.

Osasuna v Real Sociedad - Sun, 17:30

This is the first of two times in five days that Osasuna and Real Sociedad will face each other, with both sides also set to face off in the Copa del Rey next Thursday. In a game I already expected to be a real grind, the fact that they'll be facing each other again so soon in a crucial match (both teams highly value the Copa) only makes me think the margins on this will be even finer than usual.

None of the last 10 meetings between these sides in La Liga has seen more than two goals scored in any one game, with the average goals per game sitting at 1.7 in that time. It's been a similar theme when they've played at El Sadar specifically too, with the last four there only producing seven goals in total.

It's no surprise given the highly attritional styles that both adapt. Osasuna are more the type to get a goal in front and then completely try to shut the game down, while Real Sociedad are a team built on a strong defence who like to go man-for-man all over the pitch. When they come up against each other, the game often falls into 90 minutes of possession trading hands, both going hell for leather in individual duels, and both trying to make life as hard for their opponent as possible - often times at the expense of creating chances of their own.

There's also the element of current form in both cases. Osasuna haven't won any of their last nine matches in La Liga, while Real Sociedad have lost their last two - both of which came against teams fighting relegation, in Valencia and Getafe.

Despite the fact both sides are going well in the Copa del Rey, and will fancy their chances of putting a deep run together, their form in the league is a cause for anxiety. I expect that to only heighten the lack of fluid football at the weekend, which should ultimately lead to a lack of goals on the day.

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