La Liga Matchday 34 Odds & Picks: Real Madrid Circling Title

• In their best run of league form since 2017, Real Madrid hold a four-point lead over Barcelona in the title race and could expand it on Matchday 34
• Los Blancos are -147 favorites on the road against a surging Athletic Bilbao (+390), while the Blaugrana are thinner -130 favorites for a challenging trip to face Villareal (+330)
• Get all the odds and best matchups for Matchday 34 in Spain below

Real’s excellent and Barça’s poor form aside, the title race could shift dramatically in the coming days as both title hopefuls face a very real threat of dropped points on the road.

Elsewhere in the table; Sevilla and Atletico Madrid continue to jockey for third place, Real Sociedad lingers on the edge of the European picture behind Getafe and Villareal, and Mallorca faces a must-win against Atleti.

Matchday 34 kicks off with that match — critical for Mallorca in their battle against relegation, and in Atleti’s quest for third — at 4:00 pm EST on Friday.

La Liga Matchday 34 Odds

All odds taken July 2

Pick 1: Espanyol vs. Leganes

Relegation will be all but confirmed for the loser of Sunday’s cellar-dweller clash, as Espanyol (5-9-19) host Leganes (5-10-18) with the duo trailing 17th-place Celta Vigo and safety by 10 and nine points respectively.

Espanyol have struggled out of the COVID break, dropping four of their last five and plummeting to the bottom of the table despite the club’s stature and a reasonable wage bill.

Ravaged by Spain’s unique emergency transfer rule, Leganes have been left without a scoring threat; one goal in their last three outings have earned them just one from nine possible points and left them adrift.

Leganes won the reverse fixture 2-0 back in December, but both goalscorers — Martin Braithwaite and Youssef En-Nesyri — have since departed.

PICK: U 2 (-113)

Pick 2: Villareal vs. Barcelona

Make no mistake: This is not a fun matchup for Barça (21-7-5), which is reeling following a pair of draws and rumoured dissent in manager Quique Setien’s locker room.

Villareal (16-6-11) are rolling along in fifth place, with 16 of a possible 18 points (5-1-0) since the restart; steady defending has been the name of the game for Javi Calleja’s squad, which has kept a clean sheet in five of its six games post-COVID.

3 – Barcelona have drawn three of their last four LaLiga games (W1), as many as they had in their previous 26 matches in the competition (W19 D3 L4). Fall. pic.twitter.com/o66NrXmxvA

— OptaJose (@OptaJose) June 30, 2020

Barça has owned this matchup in the past, racking up a 14-5-0 record against Villareal in league play over the past decade, but this does have the makings of an unusual meeting.

Keep both sides’ form in mind if betting this one.

PICK: Villareal +0.5, 1 (-114)

Pick 3: Levante vs. Real Sociedad

While Villareal have played their way into Champions League contention, Real Sociedad (15-5-13) have just about played their way out.

A late Alexander Isak goal lifted Sociedad past last-place Espanyol, 2-1, on Thursday, but the picture is still not a pretty one for manager Imanol’s squad entering their trip to Levante (12-6-15) on Monday.

Sociedad have not held a clean sheet since the restart, and Levante score goals — the fifth-most in the league (24), in fact —at home.

PICK: O 2.5 (-112)