La Liga 2019-20: Real Madrid v Real Valladolid - Match Prediction

Real Madrid have a rare early advantage against Barcelona in the La Liga. The Catalan side's defeat to Athletic Bilbao gave their fierce rivals the impetus in the early days of a highly anticipated title race.

An early lead is great for Real's title credentials, but they will need to put together a string of positive results before Barcelona realistically start to feel the pressure. Their latest roadblock in that quest is Real Valladolid.

Though the Los Blancos would be fairly confident of getting a win against them, they would be wary of their opponents who have seemingly carried their good form from the tail end of last season into the current term, registering a 2-1 victory against Real Betis away from home on the opening weekend.

Valladolid will line up in 4-4-2 which seems like an attacking option, but they will stay compact and make Real Madrid work for their goals. Despite their great recent form, Valladolid will have their poor record at the Santiago Bernabeu at the back of their minds when they take on the Spanish giants.

Where are Real Madrid's goals?

Benzema is capable of scoring for Real, but he needs support

Like the opener, Zinedine Zidane will perhaps stick with his opening trio of Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema, and Vinicius Jr. Although the French striker has shown consistently that he can score the goals Real Madrid require, he needs one of the others to start chipping in as well.

Once Eden Hazard returns to the fray, a part of the burden will fall on him. However, in his absence, Bale or Vinicius must start racking up the numbers. Else, Zidane might have to look elsewhere for a secondary source of goals.

A potential worry for them would be the absence of Luka Modric but they have plenty of depth and can plod along without the Croatian for this fixture. Fede Valverde is an option in midfield while James Rodriguez or Isco could stake a claim as well.

Match Prediction: Real Madrid 2-0 Real Valladolid