Real Madrid will be looking to return to winning ways in La Liga when they head to Seville on Saturday evening to take on Manuel Pellegrini's Real Betis side.
Los Blancos have collected four points from their opening two league matches to sit third in the table, while Betis have picked up two points from as many fixtures to occupy 10th position at this stage.
Match preview
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Betis enjoyed an impressive 2020-21 campaign, collecting 61 points from their 38 matches, which was enough to finish sixth, allowing them to qualify directly for the group stage of this season's Europa League, and it was their joint-highest placing at this level since 2004-05.
Pellegrini's team will be looking to push high up the division once again, but they are yet to record their first win of the season, sharing the points with Mallorca and Cadiz in their opening two fixtures.
Betis had to come from behind to pick up a point against Cadiz on August 20, as Juanmi's effort cancelled out Alvaro Negredo's opener at Estadio Benito Villamarin.
The Green and Whites impressed on their own patch last season, picking up 35 points from 19 matches, and they have only actually lost one of their last five La Liga matches with Real Madrid, recording two wins in the process, including a home success in March 2020.
Betis have managed to boost their squad with the arrival of four new players this summer, meanwhile, with Youssouf Sabaly, Rui Silva, Juan Miranda and German Pezzella making moves to Seville.
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Real Madrid, meanwhile, opened their 2021-22 campaign with an impressive 4-1 victory over Alaves on the opening weekend and looked on course to make it two wins from two against Levante last weekend.
Gareth Bale gave Los Blancos the perfect start in the fifth minute of the match, but Carlo Ancelotti's side then had to come from behind on two separate occasions to claim a point, with Vinicius Junior registering two goals in the final 17 minutes of action in Valencia.
Los Blancos are attempting to boost their squad with the arrival of Kylian Mbappe before the transfer deadline, and it would send out a serious message to the rest of Europe if they were able to complete a deal for the Paris Saint-Germain attacker in the coming days.
Real Madrid were excellent on their travels last season, picking up 42 points from 19 matches, but as mentioned, their recent record against Betis is quite disappointing, and the fact that they conceded three times against Levante last time out will have concerned Ancelotti.
The capital giants are aiming to reclaim the Spanish title this term, having finished two points behind champions Atletico Madrid last season, where a poor start ultimately cost them the chance to finish at the summit.
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Team News
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Betis will again be without the services of Alex Moreno, Sabaly and Diego Lainez for Saturday's encounter, while Marc Bartra faces a late fitness test.
Pellegrini's side did not pick up any fresh concerns in their draw with Cadiz last time out, though, and it would not be a surprise to see the same XI sent onto the field.
Joaquin, Cristian Tello and Loren Moron are among the options for change, but a 4-2-3-1 formation should again include Borja Iglesias at the tip of the attack, with Juanmi, Nabil Fekir and Rodri operating in the positions just behind.
William Carvalho, though, could be left out of the squad amid suggestions that the Portugal international is a leading transfer target for Norwich City.
As for Real Madrid, Toni Kroos, Dani Ceballos and Ferland Mendy remain on the sidelines, while Luka Modric is a major doubt with the thigh problem that forced him to miss the Levante contest.
Nacho is expected to be available, despite missing a training session earlier this week, while Marcelo and Mariano Diaz are back in full training alongside their teammates.
Vinicius's double off the bench has put the Brazilian firmly in Ancelotti's thoughts, but Bale could again get the nod alongside Karim Benzema and Eden Hazard in the final third of the field.
Dani Carvajal made his return from injury off the bench against Levante, but his lack of action means that Lucas Vazquez is again expected to start at right-back on Saturday.
Real Betis possible starting lineup:
Silva; Montoya, Gonzalez, Ruiz, Miranda; Guardado, Canales; Rodri, Fekir, Juanmi; Iglesias
Real Madrid possible starting lineup:
Courtois; Vazquez, Militao, Nacho, Alaba; Valverde, Casemiro, Isco; Hazard, Benzema, Bale
We say: Real Betis 1-2 Real Madrid
This is a very difficult match to call, as Betis are more than capable of overcoming Real Madrid on Saturday, and it is set to be a fascinating battle. Ancelotti's side will more than likely have to suffer over the course of the 90 minutes, but we are backing the visitors to secure a narrow victory in Seville.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Real Madrid win with a probability of 58.87%. A draw had a probability of 22% and a win for Real Betis had a probability of 19.18%.
The most likely scoreline for a Real Madrid win was 0-1 with a probability of 10.44%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (10%) and 1-2 (9.94%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.38%), while for a Real Betis win it was 1-0 (5.42%). The actual scoreline of 0-1 was predicted with a 10.4% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 0-1 win for Real Madrid in this match.
