Athletic Bilbao vs Real Sociedad Prediction - Who Will Win Next Sunday's Basque Derby?

Next Sunday, Athletic Bilbao will entertain Real Sociedad on the most important Basque derby of the Spanish football at the Cathedral San Mamés for round 37 of Liga BBVA on a match where the home side will certainly try to avenge last January’s defeat at Anoeta.

Thirty years after Athletic Bilbao’s last La Liga title, the Basque team granted their presence at the UEFA Champions League Qualifying round next season at the expenses of Rayo Vallecano. Bilbao put an abrupt stop to Rayo’s excellent moment at La Liga with a vintage performances that granted them with what one might call a fairly easy win. At the end of the match, Bilbao’s manager (Ernesto Valverde) was delighted with the possibility of his side playing at the most important clubs’ competition in Europe next season and highlighted the full commitment of his players and their group spirit as the key elements behind their successful campaign this term.

Next weekend’s match against Real Sociedad will certainly pose a good opportunity for Bilbao to try to avenge their sour defeat at Anoeta last January and Ernesto Valverde will surely pass that message unto his players.

For next Sunday’s derby, Ernesto Valverde will not be able to count on the team’s centre forward Aduriz, who will undergo surgery over the next couple of days, thus missing the team’s remaining La Liga matches. Bilbao’s manager will also not be able to rely on the presence of 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.

As for Real Sociedad, the match at San Mamés next Sunday will also pose a good opportunity to reach Sevilla at the fifth place of the table, if the Andalusian side lose the match against Getafe. The Txuri-urdin failed to achieved anything better than a draw last Monday at Anoeta against a frail and relegation-threatened Granada.

For the match at San Mamés, Jagoba Arrasate will not be able to count on the team’s powerful centre back Mikel González, who was sent off against Granada last weekend.

When both sides met at Anoeta earlier in January, Real Sociedad claimed the match by 2-0 with goals from the usual suspect (Antoine Griezmann and Rubén Pardo). If one considers both sides’ recent performances, one can point Athletic Bilbao as strong favourites for next Sunday’s match.

Athletic Bilbao

Stats: W-19 L-8 D-8

Recent Form - WWLWW

Real Sociedad

Stats: W-16 L-10 D-9

Recent Form - LDWWD

Possible Line-ups

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

Real Sociedad (4-2-3-1) - Bravo - C. Martínez - Zaldúa - La Bella - J. Ángel - Zurutuza - R. Pardo - Griezmann - Canales - Vela - Agirretxe

Prediction

Athletic Bilbao 1 Real Sociedad 0