La Liga Tips: All-action Julian Alvarez is the man to watch in Atletico’s trip to Las Palmas

Julian Alvarez has become Atletico’s leader amid Griezmann form struggles

Two forwards in form are the focus of Saturday’s Betfair football superboost. Manchester City’s Marmoush will give Everton’s defenders plenty to think about while West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen should be be a handful for Southampton.

Between them Marmoush and Bowen have had 18 shots on target in their last five matches. The price on them each having one or more on Saturday has been boosted from 1/2 to 1/1.

After surviving their trip to Dortmund in midweek, the treble remains on for Hansi Flick’s Barcelona. They’ve still got plenty of work to do to get there though, and that continues this weekend when they host a frisky Celta Vigo side, led by one of the managers of the season in Claudio Giraldez.

While Barcelona unexpectedly top most of the meaningful charts in La Liga this season, Celta Vigo have consistently been among the better sides in the division when it comes to creating and limiting quality chances. The Galician side rank sixth in La Liga this term for expected goal difference (+9.6), which is the best figure for any team currently outside of the European places in the table.

Quite simply, this is a Celta Vigo team to take seriously. They’re accomplished on the ball, they can launch swift attacks, and their manager is brave enough to risk losing in order to win in any scenario.

Of course, you need all of that, a bit more, and a good bit of luck to take a result at Barcelona these days. If Celta Vigo go toe-to-toe against the home side, they’ll only come up against an opponent even more convinced in trading punches (with a lot more quality). Though Giraldez’s side are a great watch, they’ve only kept two clean sheets in their last 23 away games in La Liga and will surely end up on the wrong side of a result here, if it turns into a shootout.

One player to look out for on the visiting side in this one, however, is the fleet-footed Alfon Gonzalez. Since breaking into the team as a regular starter over the last few months, the winger has been one of Celta’s most impressive players and proved he’s got the goal threat to stick around at this level. He should find be able to find his moments up against Barcelona’s high line here.

The 25-year-old has scored three goals in his last five matches in La Liga. And since the start of March, only Lamine Yamal (27), Robert Lewandowski (25), and Kylian Mbpape (22) have attempted more shots in Spain’s top-flight than Alfon (17). Similarly, his eight shots on target are also the fourth-most in the league in this period.

The 2024-25 campaign looks likely to end without any silverware for Atletico Madrid this season, but optimism towards the future needn’t be in short supply. They were penalty shootout away from knocking Real Madrid out of Europe, were narrowly eliminated by Barcelona from the Copa del Rey, and are only three points behind Real Madrid in La Liga heading into the weekend. They’re not a million miles away.

And as for the biggest source of optimism, that’d be the performance of Julian Alvarez in his debut campaign. When some looked at the transfer fee they paid to Manchester City for his signing and scoffed, the Argentinean has looked like he’s worth every penny. Goals, assists, hustle, and big-game performances have been on display from him all season long.

Indeed, even when Antoine Griezmann’s form has faltered down the stretch of the campaign, Alvarez’s performances have stayed right there at a high level. Nobody is playing better for Atletico than him, even at this late stage of the season with a lot of games for club and country under his belt.

They might well need another complete performance from their no. 9 here too. Atletico Madrid lost this exact fixture in La Liga last season, and are coming up against a Las Palmas side fighting for their lives to stay in the division (and who got a big away win at Getafe last time out).

Where Diego Simeone will be intent on his team playing and competing as hard as they possibly can until the end of the season, even with no tangible prize guaranteed, Alvarez will continue to set the example in that pursuit.

Between those attacking instincts and hard running without the ball, I’ll go for him to land at least one shot on target, commit foul, and win a foul in the game. He’s scored nine goals in his last 11 starts for Atletico across all competitions, while he’s averaged 1.4 shots on target and committed 1.1 fouls per 90 in La Liga this season overall.

Sevilla have pulled the emergency cord – again – resulting in the return of the old school coach Joaquin Caparros to replace Garcia Pimienta. With the latter’s departure, the club are saying goodbye to any long-term thinking and bringing back Caparros to try and cheer everyone up a little bit between now and the end of the season. It really does feel that simple.

Indeed, we’re in prime territory for a managerial bounce here. Sevilla have underperformed all season long, but between the return of Caparros for yet another caretaker spell and the fact that their squad has a lot more to give than it has so far, it really wouldn’t be a surprise if they started to pick up some wins now with everyone feeling a bit less tense.

Sevilla still have a little bit of work to do to ensure they won’t be involved in the relegation fight this season, but that won’t weight too heavy on people’s minds at this stage. A victory here – which would further condemn Alaves – would take it off the table almost completely. And besides, the chances of them going down are already very slim.

As for the visitors, they’re in a fairly critical situation in La Liga – at least for a team who few expected to be in the relegation fight this term.

Incoming coach Eduardo Coudet was an unpopular choice to replace Luis Garcia Plaza, and he’s still in the process of trying to win the fans over, while steering them through a season that could still end in a disaster. Meanwhile, Alaves have only kept one clean sheet in their last 18 away games in La Liga, and have never kept one away to Sevilla in the competition (13 matches).

Along with a win for the home side here, I’ll add in Antonio Blanco to commit 2+ fouls for the visitors. The Alaves midfielder – who you might remember for being the guy on the wrong end of Kylian Mbappe’s red card challenge – is usually the one who’s dishing out the pain in La Liga.

Blanco has averaged 2.4 fouls per league start in 2025, and the renewed atmosphere on Caparros’s return should help to continue that trend on Sunday.