Same old story in Spain, Italy

Barcelona and Real Madrid in Spain and Juventus in Italy are set to dominate again but World Cup hangovers could spark upsets in early LA Liga clashes and there are good value bets in the EPL and PSL coming up.

Italy and Spain get their respective league campaigns underway this weekend with pretty much the same picture as 2017-18 likely to be painted again in the new season. In Spain, it will be Barcelona seeking to hold off Real Madrid and keep a grip on their La Liga crown, while in Italy Juventus will be looking to continue their dominance and make it eight Serie A titles in a row.

Enticing Cristiano Ronaldo to Turin was a bold statement from Juventus. But that probably has more to do with their ambitions of returning to the pinnacle of the European game in the Champions League than it has to do with holding pretenders at bay in the Italian league.

It is hard to see any real threat to “The Old Lady”, particularly now that Napoli have lost manager Maurizio Sarri to Chelsea and the two Milan clubs are battling to make any real impact in the transfer market.

Serie A should provide some upset results and resultant handsome dividends in TAB soccer pools every now and then, but Juventus are not likely to slip up all that often.

It could be a different story in Spain where the Lionel Messi factor is still massive but perhaps not as all-pervading as in the past. The Argentine superstar had a poor World Cup and is perhaps now past his peak, although it is foolhardy to write him off yet.

Barcelona’s key players might still have a World Cup hangover coming into the new season while Real still appear to be settling on their team for the new campaign.

They play neighbours Atletico tomorrow night in the UEFA Super Cup - thousands of miles from Spain in Tallinn, Estonia.

There is a chance of the big guns misfiring when La Liga gets underway and some resultant tidy Soccer 6 and 10 dividends.

Matches around this coming weekend to look at with upset potential are Maritzburg United at home to Kaizer Chiefs in the Premier Soccer League on Friday night, when the home team are due a win as their visitors play a fifth game in 13 days, and Crystal Palace against Liverpool in the EPL on Monday night, when Palace look value at their current odds of 11-2.