Betting Analysis
Looking at the 1×2 market first. The favourite for the game was the comfortable and impressive winner, visitor Real Sociedad @ 2.0. Their backers had to wait until the second half but reassuringly for them, it was always a contest they seemed to have control over.
Moving onto the Asian handicap market for this match where Almeria was unable to give their backers a real run for their money despite strong home form. Real Sociedad -0.5 were winners on this market @ 2.01.
Looking at The Under/Over market last of all. Punters were keener on the Unders in the 24 hours before the kick-off and the line dropped down to 2.25 as a result. These bettors were proved right as almost nothing happened in a tight first half. Under 2.25 @ 2.01 did win in the end but due to two goals early in the second half, it was a very nervy second period for its backers. That said, the match was flat and much more of an ‘Unders’ type affair.
Match Summary
A very accomplished Real Sociedad handed Almería their first home defeat in La Liga since September in a comfortable 0-2 win for the Basques.
Real Sociedad had more control in the first half but did all the damage very early in the second half.
It was rarely an exciting or fast-paced game that suited the visitor, who scored their first goal just two minutes into the second period. Soon after going ahead, they finished off another nice move to make sure of victory against an Almeria who hadn’t posed any threat.
Almeria pushed hard once behind by two goals but never truly looked capable of beating their high-flying visitor.
Almería had the second-best home form in the league this season but intriguingly. Real Sociedad’s away record was identical to Almería’s in front of their fans.
The away team moved the ball smarter and posed more threat in a slow-tempo affair. Kubo fizzed a shot just wide of the post and the Japanese international was involved again just after the half-hour mark when he was denied by a good save from Fernando.
David Silva had been one of Real Sociedad’s better players in a dull half, and two minutes after the restart he gave his team the lead after a nice move involving Kubo.
Things got even better for the visitors five minutes later when the big striker Sørloth cut inside onto his left foot and powered a shot past Fernando at his near post to make it 0-2.
Almería never got any serious momentum going and failed to make Sociedad sweat. 0-2 is a fair result.
