Barcelona hold a two-point lead over Real Madrid at the top of La Liga ahead of the restart.
La Liga recommences on 29th December with a matchday spread across Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
The two superclubs of Barcelona and Real Madrid are far clear at the top, with Los Blancos having a nine-point lead over Real Sociedad in third.
Five points separate third from eighth, and top-flight stalwarts Sevilla are in the relegation zone.
Atletico Madrid are languishing 11 points behind their city rivals. At the bottom of the table, Elche are winless with a mere four points on the board.
Winner: Barcelona
On the back of a summer of big spending and controversy, Barcelona are in pole position as they chase their first league title since 2018-19.
Robert Lewandowski is leading the goal-scoring charts, and Xavi’s team have conceded just five goals through 14 La Liga fixtures.
Ousmane Dembélé has begun to fulfil his sky-high potential.
There is a meeting of youth and experience in midfield with Gavi and Pedri shining alongside Sergio Busquets, while Frenkie de Jong appears comfortable after an off-season of transfer rumours.
Falling from the Champions League to the Europa League could prove beneficial if Xavi is happy to prioritise domestic action, though the competition could still provide a lot of additional matches if they progress.
Winner: Real Madrid
Real Madrid enjoyed a glorious 2021-22 season.
Their expected goal difference is considerably weaker than Barcelona’s, but they are only two points behind their historic rivals.
Aurélien Tchouaméni and Luka Modric are coming off heavy workloads in Qatar, yet several other players had quieter World Cups due to injury or early elimination.
Los Blancos slowed up domestically last season during their dramatic run to another Champions League win. Continental competition could again be a factor with a tantalising tie against Liverpool on the horizon.
The depth and experience of this squad makes it very hard to bet against Real, however.
The gap to Barca is negligible. This title race could come down to the Clasico in March – Real are the better value of the two at 6/4.
Top Goalscorer: Karim Benzema
Robert Lewandowski has a five-goal advantage over anyone else in the race for the Pichichi Trophy.
The Pole is eight clear of Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema. Unsurprisingly, Lewandowski’s is expected to win the award with a best price of 1/8 in this market.
Benzema, though, returned to training this week and has clocked 0.89 expected goals per 90 in La Liga this term, which is only marginally lower than Lewandowski’s figure.
If Lewandowski is fit for the remainder of the season, he will inevitably lift the Pichichi Trophy, and become the first Polish player to do so.
Should he get injured for a few weeks, however, there will be an opening for Benzema.
Relegation: Cadiz
Solidity is often thought of as the key to avoid relegation.
Being hard to beat is important, of course, but teams that struggle to score goals inevitably find it hard to win matches. Cadiz fall into that category, with only nine goals scored and 10.2 expected goals generated so far.
It is congested at the bottom of the table. Los Piratas are just one point from safety.
However, they only avoided relegation by a single point last season, and there is an alarming lack of attacking talent, with no player having scored more than twice in La Liga this season.
Matches against Almeria, Elche and Sevilla before the end of January will go a long way to determining Cadiz’s outlook in 2023.
As it stands, they are rightly one of the favourites for the drop.
Without Real Madrid and Barcelona: Atletico Madrid
There’s no denying it has been a poor start to the season for Atletico Madrid.
They are fifth in La Liga, with an expected goal difference per 90 of just +0.16, and they are knocked out of Europe altogether after finishing bottom of their Champions League group.
Still, this squad is clearly the third best in La Liga.
A title push is far out of reach, yet they are only two points off third. Atleti have not finished outside the top three since 2011-12.
While they were a long way off the pace last season, and there are clear signs of decline, they are still a stronger team than those around them – there’s value at this price.
All odds are subject to change
