Almeria vs Athletic Bilbao Prediction - Will Almeria Stay At La Liga Next Season?

Next Sunday, Almeria will go head-to-head with Athletic Bilbao at Estadio de Los Juegos Mediterráneos for round 38, the last one, of Liga BBVA on a match where the home side just needs to grab a point to be safe from relegation.

Last weekend, Almeria continued their recent good streak of results by beating Granada at Estadio Nuevo Los Cármenes and almost confirmed their presence at the next edition of Liga BBVA. With last weekend’s win, Almeria made 39 points, three more than Valladolid and Osasuna, who are below the relegation line. Depending on the other matches’ final outcome, Almeria might not even need to collect any points against Athletic Bilbao to avoid relegation, although, in order to avoid any last minute upsets, it would certainly be better for them to reach the 40-point sanctuary.

For next weekend’s match, Almeria’s head coach (Francisco Rodríguez) will probably not be able to rely on the contribution of the Portuguese winger Hélder Barbosa, who is currently sidelined due to injury.

As for Athletic, the Bilbao team granted their presence at the UEFA Champions League qualifying round two weeks ago and are already preparing the season to come by renewing the contracts of some of their most importants footballers. Last weekend, on the Basque Country derby, Athletic conceded a home draw against Real Sociedad, on a match where Bilbao’s head coach, Ernesto Valverde, highlighted the fact that if his team were still in need of points, they would have certainly increased the pace of their game and the match’s outcome could have been different.

For the match against Almeria at Andalusia, Ernesto Valverde will not be able to count on the team’s main centre forward Aduriz, who was submitted to surgery last week, on Gurpegi, who will miss the rest of the season due to injury, and he is not yet certain of the availability of Borja Ekiza and Kike Sola, who are still recovering from their respective injuries.

When both sides met at the emblematic San Mamés back in January, Athletic severely hammered a frail Almeria 6-1 thanks to goals Herrera, Laporte, Aduriz, Mikel Rico, and two from Ibai Gómez. Hélder Barbosa scored the consolation goal for the Andalusia side. Next Sunday’s match will surely have a different outcome, since Almeria are far more confident now than they were four months ago. The eventual need to grab a single point to reach “salvation” from relegation will certainly force the home side (who are currently on a good moment) to build up something special and not allow the match just go with the flow.

Almería

Stats: W-11 L-20 D-6

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Athletic Bilbao

Stats: W-20 L-8 D-9

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Possible Line-ups

Almería (4-2-3-1) – Esteban, Rafita, Trujillo, Torsiglieri, Dubarbier, Verza, Corona, Jonathan, Soriano, Vidal, O. Díaz

Athletic Bilbao (4-2-3-1) - Iraizoz - Iraola - S. José - Laporte - Balenziaga - Iturraspe - Mikel Rico - Susaeta - Ander Herrera - Muniain - Toquero

Prediction

Almeria 1 Athletic Bilbao 1