Real Betis and Real Sociedad cap off Matchday 6 of the 2020/21 La Liga season as the two sides go head-to-head at Benito Villamarin on Sunday night.
Betis currently sit second in the table – one point behind league-leaders Real Madrid – while third-place Sociedad are one point behind.
It’s safe to say that both these teams have made a strong start to the new campaign, so this looks set to be a competitive encounter.
Betis kicked off their season with back-to-back clean-sheet victories over Alaves and Valladolid respectively.
However, despite coming from behind to take a 2-1 lead against Real Madrid on Matchday 3, Betis eventually lost 3-2 to the defending champions.
Betis were outclassed by Getafe on Matchday 4, losing 3-0. But they bounced back last time out and returned to winning way with a 2-0 victory over Valencia.
Cristian Tello and William Carvalho both have two goals to their name this season, while Sergio Canales (one goal, two assists) and Nabil Fekir (one goal, one assist) have also impressed.
Given that Betis flirted with relegation last term, manager Manuel Pellegrini will be very happy with his team’s record of nine points from a possible 15 this season.
Meanwhile, Sociedad began life in 2020/21 with consecutive draws against Valladolid and Real Madrid, not picking up their first win until Matchday 3.
Sociedad extended their unbeaten start to the season with a 3-0 victory over newly-promoted Elche but lost 1-0 to Valencia a few days later.
However, Sociedad’s previous result was hugely impressive. A comfortable 3-0 win against Getafe will have pleased manager Imanol.
Roberto Lopez and Portu have been the stars of the show so far for Sociedad, with each player netting two goals already this season.
Head-to-head: Real Betis won the previous encounter between the teams, picking up a 3-0 victory over Sociedad back in January.
Still, it is worth pointing out that Sociedad had only lost one of their eight games against Betis before that (five wins, two draws).
This has been a high-scoring fixture in recent years, with five of the previous seven meetings producing over 2.5 goals.
Team news: Betis will be without injured trio Dani Martin (goalkeeper), Francis Guerrero (right-back) and Victor Camarasa (central midfield) this weekend.
As for the visitors, Alex Sola (right-back) and Asier Illarremendi (defensive midfield) remain sidelined and won’t travel with the Sociedad squad.
When you couple both teams’ high-scoring starts to the season with the recent goalscoring record in this fixture, this game is destined to produce plenty of goals.
Both sides have made promising starts to the campaign, so Forebet predicts that Sunday’s clash is likely to be a high-scoring draw.