In one of the more interesting La Liga games this week, we have Athletic Bilbao hosting bottom-of-the-table Bats at San Mames on the 28th of August.
Athletic Bilbao aren’t enjoying a solid La Liga start. Coach Ernesto Valverde’s players failed to win both of their opening games. However, we should note that one of those matches was a game against title favourites Barcelona.
While we are on the topic of poor performances – Valencia completely ruined the fans’ good mood. The Bats are once again at the bottom of the table, with two losses in two league attempts. Will the visitors prove our Athletic Bilbao vs Valencia predictions wrong?
How the bookies view it: Routine victory for the Basques
Athletic Bilbao’s odds are priced at 11/20, which means if Valverde’s players lose this, the experts will go down hard on them. Valencia, as you probably suspected already, don’t seem like favourites to win this match. The odds behind a win for the Bats are priced at 26/5. If the visitors succeed at the unwelcoming San Mames, we’d be very surprised.
Recent head-to-head: Athletic Bilbao know how to tame the Bats
Yes, Valencia had the last laugh with a thrifty 1-0 win over the Basques, but that’s all the winning this team did against Athletic Bilbao in the last two years. The previous five matches resulted in three victories for Athletic Bilbao and three ties.
Seeing as Athletic Bilbao didn’t lose a single one of the last five meetings against the Bats at San Mames, we trust coach Valverde’s boys will find a way to keep the three points to themselves.
Players to watch: Williams brothers to run the Bats ragged
With a market value of €70m on his head, Nico Williams is undoubtedly Athletic Bilbao’s big star right now. Sure, Kounde of Barcelona managed to keep him in his pocket in the game between the two teams a couple of days ago, but we still consider Williams one of the best wingers in La Liga.
Despite not taking part in the Euro 2024, Nico’s brother Inaki is still a force to be reckoned with. When the two play together, Athletic Bilbao’s attack is just scary-good. We trust that the two will be among the starters for coach Valverde at San Mames, as he doesn’t have any better options to pick from.
Predicted line-ups
Ruben Barja will likely go for Diego Lopez on the wing. The latter scored the only goal for his team in the game against Celta Vigo at Estadio Balaidos. The 14th-minute opener was merely a consolation goal, as Iaso Aspas and his colleagues managed to pull off a remarkable come-from-behind 3-1 win at home.
There are some issues that Valverde must swiftly fix. For example, he won’t be able to count on Nico Serrano, Alvaro Djalo, Inigo Galarreta, Aitor Paredes, and Unai Simon for the game against the Bats. However, Valverde has plenty of top-class players at his disposal to fill in the gaps.
Athletic Bilbao: Padilla – Vivian, Lekue, Alvarez, Berchiche – Vesga, Prados, Sanchet – N. Williams, I. Williams & Berenguer
Valencia: Mamardashvili – Correia, Mosquera, Gasiorowski, Vazquez – Lopez, Guerra, Pepelu, Mir – Duro & Almeida
Anything else catch the eye?
Seven of the last 10 games between the two teams resulted in under 2.5 goals. That’s why we believe that the game at San Mames will not be the most exciting one to watch this week.
However, the fact that the two teams are so thrifty makes us believe that under 2.5 goals at 7/10 is the way to go here.
This La Liga match between Athletic Bilbao and Valencia will be played on Aug 28, 2024 and kick off at 18:00. Check below for our tipsters best Athletic Bilbao vs Valencia prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
