Alaves vs Real Madrid prediction 21.12.2023

• Competition: La Liga
• Date: Thursday, 21st December 2023
• Kickoff: 20:30 UTC / 21:30 CET
• Venue: Estadio Mendizorrotza (Vitoria-Gasteiz)

Alaves missed the direct promotion to La Liga last season only by one point and had to go through the playoffs to secure it. This year, after a pretty poor start, Alaves stringed several good results in November and the start of December, when they mostly played against weaker opponents and managed to collect valuable points. Now, they are 13th, but to be fair, that looks much better than it actually is because they are only three points away from 18th-placed Celta Vigo and the danger zone. 

Last season, Real Madrid won only Copa del Rey, which is not enough for one of the best teams in the World. Over the Summer, they did not change the team too much, but the addition of Jude Bellingham was a massive success, and it seems he is that X factor they missed last year. This season, despite having injury problems throughout the season, Los Blancos are playing great and have easily secured the knockout phase after finishing first in group C with Napoli, Braga, and Union Berlin by securing all six wins. In La Liga, Los Blancos are 2nd, two points away from the 1st-placed Girona, but already seven away from 3rd-placed Barcelona. Even though it's still early, it seems that Girona and Real Madrid will be battling for the title this season. 

Alaves vs Real Madrid pick: Real Madrid to win and over 2.5 Goals

Alaves lost nine of 17 games this season, and even though they had some good games lately, those were against the teams from the bottom of the league's table. Now, they lost back-to-back games against Girona and Las Palmas and even failed to score in the previous three La Liga games. They generally have big problems with the offense, as they have the worst record in La Liga, with 14 goals in 17 matches (0.82 per game) and will have an incredibly tough task of scoring vs the best defense in La Liga. 

Real Madrid are playing great this season, winning 19 of 23 games - 83%. Throughout the season, they have been good on both sides of the pitch, but it seems they are only getting better offensively as the season progresses, as they scored 25 goals in the last eight games. An incredible 3.125 goals per game! 

In the previous seven h2h games, Real Madrid won on six occasions. Five of those six wins came by two or more goal difference. 

Considering everything above, we expect a comfortable win for Real Madrid at Estadio Mendizorrotza.