Valencia vs Real Madrid Preview

Valencia continued their late surge up the Spanish league table with yet another narrow but effective win over Sevilla at the weekend.

Los Che started the season very poorly yet they are in a fantastic run of form at the moment and they could even end the season inside the top four if they don’t get stopped.

Their win over Sevilla at the weekend was the 16^th consecutive time they have played a competitive game without tasting defeat.

Even more impressive is the fact that they have won 9 of those games.  They should be well-psyched for this match and fans expect them to present the biggest test to Zinedine Zidane since his return.

Real Madrid have had a tough time this season.  They have already fired two managers and could be set to end the season trophyless unless a major slip up happens from Barcelona.

Los Merengues have started well under Zidane, but their 3-2 win over Huesca last weekend had a lot do with some good fortune.

Zidane gambled and started his son in goal ahead of Keylor Navas and Thibaut Courtois who wasn’t even on the bench.

His gamble almost backfired and it is highly likely he won’t try something of that nature in this game.

There are 12 points separating Real Madrid from Barcelona but there are just two points between them and Atletico Madrid who are in second position.  Fans should feel that their immediate target would be to finish behind the Blaugranas but this could arguably be the toughest game they will play before the end of the season.

Bookmakers have priced Real Madrid up as odds-against favourites to come out on top in this game while Valencia will start the game as slight outsiders.

Goal markets point to an exciting game as over 2.5 goal is currently trading odds-on while Karim Benzema is favourite to open the scoring closely followed by Gareth Bale.

This game gets underway at 20:30 BST.

Other fixtures taking place this week in the Spanish Primera:

Spanish Primera Table

Spanish Primera Results