Thursday Football Tips: Benzema can help land 27/10 shot

Andy Schooler
02 February 2023
1:30 min read

Karim Benzema: Has scored in his last seven league games v Valencia

Real Madrid vs Valencia CF
Thu 2 Feb, 19:00

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Our football props column heads to Spain on Thursday for a 27/10 Bet Builder in Real Madrid v Valencia...

Benzema has scored in last 7 v Valencia
Ref the best for under-cards bets
27/10 Bet Builder for La Liga clash

I write this having only just picked myself up off the floor after watching Monaco somehow manage to blow up Wednesday's bet.

Having dominated Auxerre, they conceded late on and thus failed to cover the handicap, destroying a 2/1 shot which I really had expected to land.

Confidence is therefore somewhat low, shall we say, but I'm going to stick with a similar-priced bet on Thursday when options are rather limited for props punters.

There is one game in La Liga though with Real Madrid looking to reduce the gap to leaders Barcelona, who went eight points clear at the top on Wednesday.

Frankly Real shouldn't have too much trouble beating Valencia, who parted company with Gennaro Gattuso earlier this week having dropped within a point of the relegation zone. They have won just two of eight in all competitions since the World Cup break.

Real Madrid

Valencia CF

Barcelona 2 1 Real Madrid
Real Madrid 1 0 Liverpool
Real Madrid 3 1 Espanyol
Real Betis 0 0 Real Madrid
Real Madrid 0 1 Barcelona
Real Madrid 1 1 Atlético de Madrid

Atlético de Madrid 3 0 Valencia CF
Valencia CF 1 0 Osasuna
Barcelona 1 0 Valencia CF
Valencia CF 1 0 Real Sociedad
Getafe 1 0 Valencia CF
Valencia CF 1 2 Athletic Club

Real Madrid vs Valencia CF Thursday 02 February, 19:00

Full stats

Voro Gonzalez takes temporary charge for the umpteenth time and while he'll want a response, the whole club is probably already eyeing Sunday's crunch six-pointer away to Girona, which looks a much more winnable game. Valencia haven't won in the Bernabeu since 2008 and the days of David Villa.

So how can we get with Real at a decent price?

Well, Karim Benzema looks to have great chance of finding the target.

The Frenchman has scored in 10 of his 15 domestic starts this season, including six of eight since the season resumed at the end of December.

And he's managed to find the net in his last seven La Liga games against Valencia (nine goals in total).

The advice is to put him down as an anytime scorer and add under 3.5 cards.

That might seem risky in La Liga where card tallies are often high but we've got a good combination here.

Real are the least-carded team in the Spanish top flight, while the referee - Javier Alberola Rojas - is the most lenient.

He has shown just five cards in his four La Liga games this season and while that's admittedly a low data sample, a look back to last term shows, again, he was the most lenient in card terms - Rojas was the only La Liga ref to average less than four cards per game.

Combine the two suggestions in a Bet Builder for a price of 27/10 which can hopefully make up for Wednesday's woes.

Read why Alex Keble is backing Everton to stay up at 7/5