Spanish Supercup 2013, 1st Leg

It’s a new season but some things never change and Barcelona’s dominance of all things Spanish football can continue when they face Atletico Madrid in the first of their two legged Super Cup ties tonight. The Catalans started life anew with Gerado Martino in fine style when trashing Levante 7-0 in a display that could well have seen them rack up double figures if it had interested them, a typical home display and a fine start.

However in terms of measuring their European challenge – revenge for their 7-0 humbling at the hands of Bayern Munich will be high on the agenda – tonight’s game against Copa Del Rey winners Atletico Madrid will tell us much more about how one can expect them to perform against the best this season. Diego Simone’s men underlined their reputation as Spain’s best team without the big two last season and while they lost talisman Falcao over the summer, Diego Costa showed that he is ready to step up and take the lead when scoring twice at Sevilla in their impressive 3-1 win, while the arrival od David Villa from Barcelona can prove to be a masterstroke if he stays fitter than he has in either of his last two campaigns.

Madrid have also pushed Barcelona close at home in recent years, beating them in 2009/10 and then going down by just one goal in a 2-1 defeat on each occasion, and a similar result again would not surprise here.

Chelsea have their second Premiership game in Jose’s second spell, but beating Aston Villa is likely to prove an awful lot harder than beating Hull at the weekend. Villa were a shambles last season but played with ferocious tenacity to beat Arsenal comprehensively at the weekend and should be buoyed by that early season highlight, although Chelsea are in nowhere near such dire straits and should be capable of make it two from two. However, finding any sort of value is going to be very hard with Chelsea so short and the way that they backed off after a blistering opening 20 minutes tempers enthusiasm, so it seems a game to watch ahead of their trip to Manchester United, which is likely to see them conserve energy.

Arsenal’s entire season last year was based around reaching the Group stages of the Champions League, so their playoff title against Fenerbache, the first leg of which is tonight in Turkey, is simply vital. Fener haven’t started the season well, losing a 2-0 lead at the weekend in the opening day of the Super Lig, but do have the potential to beat high class opposition at home, as Lazio and Benfica can testify from last season’s experiences at the Sukru Sarcoglicu. Fenerbache would be the pick at the prices, but in reality neither option’s convincing and the draw would be the pick if forced.

Advice

2 pts Barcelona (3/4 general)

1 pt Barcelona to win w/o clean sheet (12/5 Coral)

1 pt Barcelona 2-1 (9/1 Ladbrokes)