Sunday's La Liga and Bundesliga predictions and free football tips

Best bets and predictions for Sunday's matches in La Liga and the Bundesliga.

Best bets

Girona or draw double chance v Valencia
Premier Sports 1, 6.30pm
1pt 10-11 general

Union Berlin draw no bet v Mainz
Sky Sports Football, 2.30pm
1pt 11-8 bet365, Boylesports, Ladbrokes

Preview

Gennaro Gattuso takes charge of his first La Liga match as Valencia boss on Sunday but the fiery Italian may not like what he sees when his side host promoted Girona.

Valencia finished an underwhelming ninth in Spain's top flight last term, posting only 11 wins in 38 matches, and they look even weaker following the sale of Goncalo Guedes to Wolves for £27 million.

This is Gattuso's first time managing a top-flight club in Spain and he could take time to impose his methods, so Girona look a decent bet to avoid defeat in their opener at the Mestalla.

They gained promotion via the playoffs last term but offer plenty of attacking threat with veteran forward Cristhian Stuani set to be accompanied by star loanee Valentin Castellanos.

Castellanos joined Girona on loan from New York City this summer, having been one of the leading scorers in Major League Soccer this year with 13 goals.

In Germany's Bundesliga, meanwhile, Union Berlin look worth backing to avoid defeat against Mainz.

Both sides opened with wins last weekend but Union were arguably more convincing, overpowering their city rivals Hertha 3-1, and they were one of the standout sides in last term's Bundesliga, finishing fifth.

There were fears about the impact of the club losing Taiwo Awoniyi to Nottingham Forest this summer but replacement Jordan Siebatcheu already has a league goal under his belt and they should come out on top in their first away contest of the campaign.

There are also two Championship encounters taking place on Sunday with Middlesbrough aiming to record their first league win of the season when they host Sheffield United before injury-hit West Brom travel to Blackburn.

The Baggies head into the game with Blackburn with Daryl Dike and Kenneth Zohore already on the sidelines and suffered another blow when forward Karlan Grant was forced off in their EFL Cup clash on Thursday night.

That means Steve Bruce could be short of options up top against Blackburn, who have started the season with back-to-back wins and could represent value for some at 7-4.

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