Real Madrid has here the chance to continue in the title race.

Although Betis is coming from three consecutive victories, their recent performances have been poor, especially in defense. 10 goals conceded in the last 5 games, some of them against weak teams and the worst attacks of the league (Valladolid, Elche, Celta, Almeria…).

Their defense right now is a mess and they also lost the ability they had last season of controlling the games with a strong and talented midfield. This year their games are more box to box, conceding a lot and just winning games thanks to their quality upfront, but they are not dominating or controlling the games as they were doing last season.

This midweek they have a very important game next Thursday - Manchester United in the Europa League ⅛ finals, so players could be thinking about that game.

Furthermore, their two best and most talented players are out for this game: Fekir and Canales. The top assistant in the team this season is the topscorer Borja Iglesias, followed by Alex Moreno (sold to Aston Villa) and then Fekir and Canales, both with 2 assists so far. Furthermore they are the 2nd and 4th topscorer: Canales scored 4 and Fekir 2 so far.

On the other hand, Madrid is not coming in their best form either but clearly improving in their last games. Furthermore, they saw how the title isn’t lost yet, thanks to Barcelona's defeat last weekend against Almeria which made them to be just 7 points below, with a Clasico coming in two weekends.

Madrid is a team who struggles a lot playing without spaces, against defensive teams. Surprisingly, this is what Barcelona did in the midweek Cup’s game, but it’s something that Betis won’t do because is an offensive team who likes to try to control the game and have the ball possession. Betis is a team who never played defensive with Pellegrini, because they don't have players (especially defenders) for that and they dont know how to do it.

So I’m expecting a kind of game which should be favorable for Real Madrid, with Betis struggling without their two best players and the ones with higher ability to keep the ball or create some chances/give assists.

In the previous game played this season in September, Madrid won 2:1 dominating Betis and being the deserved winner of the game. Today I’m expecting the same.

 本译文使用有道机器翻译，仅供参考：

皇马在这里有机会继续争夺冠军。

虽然贝蒂斯取得了三连冠，但他们最近的表现却很糟糕，尤其是在防守方面。过去5场比赛丢了10个球，其中一些对手是实力较弱的球队，以及联赛中进攻最糟糕的球队(巴拉多利德、埃尔切、塞尔塔、阿尔梅里亚……)

他们现在的防守一团糟，他们也失去了上赛季凭借强大而有天赋的中场控制比赛的能力。今年他们的比赛更多的是禁区对禁区，丢了很多球，但由于他们的前期质量，他们赢得了比赛，但他们没有像上赛季那样统治或控制比赛。

本周中，他们下周四有一场非常重要的比赛——与曼联的欧联杯决赛，所以球员们可能会考虑那场比赛。

此外，他们的两个最好的和最有天赋的球员将缺席这场比赛:费基尔和卡纳莱斯。本赛季球队的最佳助教是最佳射手博尔哈·伊格莱西亚斯，其次是亚历克斯·莫雷诺(卖给阿斯顿维拉)，然后是费基尔和卡纳莱斯，两人目前为止都有2次助攻。此外，他们是射手榜的第二和第四名:到目前为止，卡纳莱斯打进4球，费基尔打进2球。

另一方面，马德里也没有打出最好的状态，但在最近几场比赛中有明显的进步。此外，他们看到了冠军还没有失去，多亏了巴塞罗那上周末对阵阿尔梅里亚的比赛，他们只落后7分，两周后还有一场德比。

马德里是一支在没有空间的情况下，面对防守球队时会很挣扎的球队。令人惊讶的是，巴塞罗那在周中杯的比赛中就是这样做的，但贝蒂斯不会这样做，因为贝蒂斯是一支喜欢控制比赛和控球的进攻球队。在佩莱格里尼的带领下，贝蒂斯是一支从不防守的球队，因为他们没有球员(尤其是后卫)可以防守，他们也不知道如何防守。

所以我期待着一场对皇马有利的比赛，贝蒂斯在没有他们最好的两名球员的情况下挣扎，他们有更高的控球能力或创造机会/助攻。

在本赛季9月进行的上一场比赛中，马德里以2:1战胜贝蒂斯，成为当之无愧的赢家。今天我期待着同样的结果。