LA LIGA .............

REAL MADRID - VILLARREAL

I see this as a big, big game for Real, a New Year, a new start, most of their stars return and two new and very expensive signings are on show. Here is the squad for today :

Casillas, Dudek,Ramos, Salgado, Heinze, Pepe, Cannavaro, Metzelder ,Guti, Gago, Lass, Sneijder, Robben, Drenthe, Van der Vaart,Palanca, Raúl, Huntelaar and Saviola.

What a wealth of riches in midfield, where Guti, Diarra (Lass), Sneijder, Robben and Van der Vaart will all be competing for starting roles, the strikers must be drooling at the prospect of the chances that will be created for them. On song, there is not a team in Europe who could stop them from scoring.

Villarreal have struggled for several months now, they have collected just one point in four starts and are in their lowest league position for eighteen months. They do not have the greatest record in Madrid, where they have just three points and no wins, from nine visits. The visitors seem resigned to losing one or two key players in the "window", especially Marcos Senna, who once again is being chased by a number of clubs.

Real have a fantastic record in these first home starts of the New Year, which they see as a "present" for their fans, they have won the last eight, six of them by two or more goals and the three against big name sides, have averaged five goals.

There is a good chance that we will see another Real special today, six of their eight La Liga games at the Bernabeu have produced four or more goals and in all competitions, 3 from 6 ,an incredible seven or more ! Villarreal are not much less prolific, with 7 of the last 15 containing at least four , with five producing 5 or more.

H2h wise, three of the last 5 have also had at least five goals and Real did the double last year, scoring eight in the process. I expect a big win for them today and another goal rush is on the cards.

7 points Real Madrid -3/4 ball 2.02 asian line

2.5 points "over" 4.5 goals 4.90 exchanges.

Good Luck.