La Liga Matchday 4 Odds & Picks: Barcelona Visit Celta, Eibar Face Elche

• Spain’s La Liga is set to squeeze a mid-week round of games in on Matchday 4, which begins Tuesday with Real Sociedad taking on Valencia
• Real Madrid are firm -400 favorites at home against Valladolid on Wednesday, while Barcelona are tipped at -200 to win on the road at Celta Vigo on Thursday
• Get all the odds and best bets for Matchday 4 in Spain’s top league below

The matches are piling up in short order for clubs in Spain’s top division, with 18 of La Liga’s 20 teams in the midst of a three-game week heading into Matchday 4.

Real Sociedad and Valencia will kick things off on Tuesday (1:30 pm ET), followed by a tasty contest between Getafe and Real Betis (3:30 pm ET).

Beyond the aforementioned ‘big two’ of Real Madrid and Barcelona, top-four regulars Sevilla and Atletico Madrid are both -215 favorites in matchups against Levante at home (Thursday, 1:00 pm ET) and Huesca away (Wednesday, 1:00 pm ET) respectively.

Plenty of eyes will be on Vigo come Thursday when Oscar Junyent’s squad will receive Barcelona (3:30 pm ET) in the final match of the round.

La Liga Matchday 4 Odds

All odds taken  Sept 28 at DraftKings

Pick 1: Eibar vs. Elche

While in rather different situations — Eibar (0-1-2) has already played three matches, Elche (0-0-1) just opened their season on Saturday in Matchday 3 — it is hardly surprising to see both at the bottom of the league table.

Eibar were not safe until the final few weeks of the 2019-20 season, and will likely be dragged down into the relegation battle again; Elche had been quiet in the transfer window and as a result a) lack firepower, and b) are expected to be very active in the transfer market before the Oct. 5 deadline.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4GoUE-3qQc

Youssouff Koné joined Elche on loan from Lyon this week and should inject some much-needed pace, but will it be enough for the visitors to generate offense?

On the Eibar side of the matchup, Kike Garcia has scored in each of the team’s last two matches — identical 2-1 losses against Villareal and Athletic Bilbao.

It’s not a marquee game in the traditional sense of the word, but it’s one that may well help decide relegation at the end of the season. Why not back Eibar, who have successfully beat the drop six-straight years while on a budget, to do so against a team attempting to do the same thing for the first time?

PICK: Eibar (-118)

Pick 2: Sevilla vs. Levante

Make no mistake: Julen Lopetegui’s Sevilla (1-0-0) is playing well.

From last month’s Europa League triumph over Inter Milan to a respectable 2-1 UEFA SuperCup defeat last week against all-world Bayern Munich — and their sound 3-1 away win at Cadiz in their league opener — this is a Sevilla team in excellent form.

Levante (1-0-1) once again look to be a team that will score goals in bunches and concede roughly the same amount in 2020-21; a comprehensive 3-1 road win at Osasuna on Sunday showed what Paco Lopez’s squad is capable of when playing aggressively.

Sevilla have won the last two meetings between the clubs at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan by 5-0 and 1-0 scorelines. Three of their last seven matches overall have seen four or more goals.

PICK: O 3.5 (+170)

Pick 3: Celta Vigo vs. FC Barcelona

Matchday 4 winds down in Vigo, where undefeated Celta (1-2-0) face a Barcelona (1-0-0) team on the cusp of an identity transition.

Celta stole a point in a wild 2-2 draw in this matchup late last season — two dropped points which all but ended Barça’s title push — and have claimed points in four of their last six meetings (1-3-2) against the blaugrana.

While the end results have varied, goals have been constant; since 2016-17, the two teams have combined to average 4.1 goals/game in their contests.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMO5Eo_9GZA

A further reason to take the ‘Over’: Barça looked monstrous in their 4-0 win over Villarreal on Sunday, with youngster Ansu Fati netting a pair of first-half goals and giving the club’s supporters a positive at the end of a rather negative September.

PICK: O 3.5 (+150)