Valencia vs Real Sociedad prediction: SPAIN: LaLiga betting tips on match 2025-08-15 19:30.
[p]For the first time since December 2018, Real Sociedad will be playing a competitive match without Imanol Alguacil as their head coach as they travel to Valencia for their season opener in La Liga on Saturday.[/p]
[p]Match News and Current Form[/p]
[p]Valencia certainly benefited from a change at the helm last Christmas as local boy and former West Bromwich Albion boss Carlos Corberán replaced Rubén Baraja and guided Los Ches from the relegation zone to a 12th-placed finish. Their hopes of pushing into the top half this season may have been hit by the significant departures of goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili and centre-back Cristhian Mosquera to Liverpool and Arsenal respectively, but having impressively won five of their last eight season-opening La Liga games, they could be feeling more optimistic come the conclusion of matchday one.[/p]
[p]After a very disappointing couple of months in which they won just one of their last eight league games (D2, L5), Real Sociedad ended 2024/25 just one place above their upcoming opponents in what was their worst league campaign and first bottom-half finish for seven years. Alguacil’s successor Sergio Francisco has the difficult task of getting the Basque outfit back into Europe, but aside from the loss of midfield maestro MartĂn Zubimendi to Arsenal, the 46-year-old retained many key players of the existing Sociedad core, players who he’ll hope can help fire them to just a second win in seven seasons on La Liga’s opening day (W1, D3, L2).[/p]
[p]Head-to-Head History[/p]
[p]The home side of the day won both of last season’s H2Hs, whilst looking further back across the last ten editions of this fixture, the two sides each tasted victory on three occasions (D4). [/p]
[p]Hot Stats and Streaks[/p]
[p]Valencia kept just one clean sheet in their last seven La Liga matches of 2024/25. [/p]
[p]Valencia have not conceded before the 40th minute in any of their last 12 league games. [/p]
[p]The away team on the day has won only one of Real Sociedad’s last seven La Liga matches. [/p]
[p]Real Sociedad did not win any of their nine La Liga away games as pre-match outsiders last season (D2, L7).[/p]
[p]Key Players to Watch and Missing Players[/p]
[p]Javi Guerra scored twice last Saturday in a 3-0 friendly win for Valencia against Torino and has avoided defeat on all of the eight occasions when he has found the net competitively for the club’s first team (W6, D2). Mikel Oyarzabal was Real Sociedad’s top scorer in all competitions last season with 18 goals, ten of which came away from home. [/p]
[p]There appear to be no major injuries for either side. [/p]
[p]Betting Analysis[/p]
[p]Given that Valencia conceded fewer than two goals in 11 of their last 12 La Liga games, betting on Real Sociedad to score under 1.5 goals here seems reasonably sensible.[/p]
[p][i]Author: Alex Bowmer[/i][/p]