{"id":363450,"date":"2025-08-16T15:11:50","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T19:11:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/?p=363450"},"modified":"2025-08-16T15:11:51","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T19:11:51","slug":"la-liga-picks-and-predictions-august-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/la-liga-picks-and-predictions-august-17\/","title":{"rendered":"La Liga picks and predictions Aug. 17: Target Alexander Sorloth for Atletico Madrid"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The first weekend of La Liga action concludes with two afternoon matches on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The pregame narrative: <\/strong>It starts with Athletic Bilbao, looking to build off a strong season, against Sevilla, which narrowly escaped relegation in 2024-25. After that, European powerhouse Atletico Madrid looks to get off on the right foot against Espanyol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Check out my La Liga predictions and best bets for the season-opening soccer action, featuring Alexander Sorloth<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">La Liga predictions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Best bet: Alexander Sorloth to score (-108)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 6-foot-5 striker is a clinical goalscorer in every way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Last season, he only started 15 matches (35 appearances) but still managed to score 20 goals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>His 1.15 goals per 90 minutes ranked first and far outpaced Kylan Mbappe&#8217;s 0.96 goals per 90 (31 total goals).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Sorloth recorded the second-most shots on goal per 90 last season (2.4).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>I expect him to start on Sunday, but he will probably be subbed off in the second half, especially if Madrid holds the lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And it&#8217;s very possible Atletico is up multiple goals by that point. The side is -167 to win and -122 to score two or more goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That&#8217;s because Espanyol was one of the worst defensive sides in La Liga last season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key stat:<\/strong> Amongst teams that didn&#8217;t get relegated, Espanyol was tied for the most xG conceded  last season (54.6).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.com\/sportsbook\/sports\/soccer\/competitions\/10094\">La Liga betting markets<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">La Liga picks: Week 1<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Sevilla under 0.5 goals (+100):<\/strong> Bilbao was Spain&#8217;s best defensive team last season, being the only club to concede fewer than 30 goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The side held a clean sheet in eight of the final 11 matches last season, including a 1-0 win over Sevilla.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bilbao will also have the advantage of playing at home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sevilla was a huge disappointment last season, finishing one point clear of relegation with 41 points and a -13 goal differential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The side was a below-average offensive team, scoring 1.1 goals per game and should struggle to score in a tough matchup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sevilla didn&#8217;t bring in any notable players this transfer window and could be back in the battle to avoid relegation again this season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>La Liga predictions made at 1:21 p.m. on 08\/16\/25.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The first weekend of La Liga action concludes with two afternoon matches on Sunday. The pregame narrative: It starts with Athletic Bilbao, looking to build off a strong season, against Sevilla, which narrowly escaped relegation in 2024-25. After that, European powerhouse Atletico Madrid looks to get off on the right foot against Espanyol. Check out [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":363423,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sidebar_plugin_meta_block_field":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[452,73],"tags":[43],"class_list":["post-363450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-com","category-football","tag-soccer-betting"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>La Liga predictions: Aug. 17 picks and best bets | NSB<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Check out our La Liga predictions for Week 1 of the 2025-26 season. 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