Deportivo Alaves vs. Real Sociedad 6/18/20 LaLiga Soccer Pick, Odds, and Prediction

Deportivo Alaves is welcoming Real Sociedad to Estadio de Mendizorroza in round 29 of Spanish LaLiga.

Deportivo is having a decent season and they are in 15th place in the standings, 7 points away from the relegation zone, but very far away from the Europa League, not that they were hoping to get there before the season started. Deportivo has scored only 29 goals this season in 28 games and they are one of the worst offensive teams in LaLiga. Deportivo’s defense has had its moments, but they have still conceded 39 goals in 28 games. In their first match since the season was restarted, Alaves was playing against Espanyol on the road. Deportivo Alaves was the weaker team in that match with only 31% of ball possession, 0 shots on goal, 1 corner kick, and only 65% of the correct passes. Deportivo has conceded a red card in the 19th minute of the match and that clearly had a huge impact on their game for the rest of the match. Deportivo has lost this game 2-0. Lucas Perez is the leading goal scorer for Alaves with 11 goals and 5 assists, while Joselu added 9 goals. Unfortunately for Alaves, Lucas Perez is injured and will not be playing in this match. Alaves has a solid team and I’m confident they will stay in LaLiga next season as well, but they should want more because they have the quality to be much higher in the standings.

Real Sociedad is playing fantastic soccer this season, fast, precise, and consistent pretty much for the entire season until now. Sociedad has scored 46 goals this season while conceding 34 goals in 28 games. Jose and Ozarzabal have each scored 9 goals, while Portu and Isak added 7 goals each. Portu and Oyarzabal each added 7 assists. Guevara is the only injured player for Real Sociedad. With 47 points, Real Sociedad is in 4th place in the standings, which is the Champions League spot, but there are 5 other teams within the 5 points from Real Sociedad, but they are also only 4 points away from third place. In their first game after a three-month break, Sociedad was playing against Osasuna at home and was by far the better team in this match. Real Sociedad has had 65% of ball possession, 4 shots on goal, 1 corner kick, and 83% of the correct passes. Sociedad has had a lot of chances in this game, but they were able to use only 1, and this match ended in a 1-1 draw. I knew before that Sociedad is a good team, but I wasn’t expecting them to be playing this well, and they should enjoy it and make the most of it because there are rumors that several players will be leaving the team at the end of the season, starting with Odegaard who is supposedly going back to Real Madrid. There are a few good teams in the hunt for the Champions League this season, but I believe that Sociedad has enough quality and depth to succeed in this mission.

In the last 15 games when Alaves was playing at home against Sociedad, Alaves has won 10 games, Sociedad has won 3 games, while the other 2 games ended in a draw. The form doesn’t mean much if the teams played only 1 game in over three months, but Sociedad is the better team here. Alaves has had plenty of success against Sociedad at home, and I have a feeling this one could go their way.