Athletic Bilbao vs Granada Prediction, Betting Tips & Preview

Preview

Joel Amorim Mar 31, 2016 @ 01:54 am

Next Sunday, 3rd of April 2016, an Athletic Bilbao hurt in their pride will measure forces with a relegation threatened Granada at the emblematic San Mamés for Round 31 of the Spanish Liga BBVA.

A solid first-half performance at Cornellà-El Prat last time out allowed Athletic Bilbao to reach half-time winning by 1-0, thanks to Eraso’s goal on minute 20’. After the break, however, the Basque team shown some signs of fatigue caused by the UEFA Europa League’s match at Mestalla that took place a few days earlier and allowed the home side to put up an epic comeback and subsequently win the match by 2-1.

Athletic are now on the 7th place of La Liga’s table with 47 points from 30 matches, but a win against Granada might help them to climb two places in the league table. For that particular match, Athletic’s head coach, Ernesto Valverde, will not be able to rely on the services of Aymeric Laporte, who remains sidelined due to a long term injury. Sabin Merino and Inigo Lekue are not yet fully recovered from their respective injuries and they are in doubt out there.

As for Granada, the Andalusia team remains in a perilous situation at La Liga’s table and a defeat at San Mamés might push them into the relegation zone. With just 28 points from 30 matches, Granada cannot afford to lose next Sunday, otherwise they risk to to be drop one or even two places in the league table.

Granada failed to get anything better than two draws from their last two home matches and are now pushed against the wall for the clash at the Basque Country next Sunday’s morning. In the last round, the Andalusia team allowed Rayo Vallecano to pull up a late draw and were forced to share the points with the Madrid’s outskirts team.

For the upcoming fixture at San Mamés, José González will not be able to rely on the contribution from the Nigerian forward Isaac Success, who is currently suspended. Diego Mainz, who is still recovering from a neck injury, will probably also miss out there.

Athletic

Stats: W-3 L-2 D-0

Recent Form - LLWWW

Granada

Stats: W-2 L-1 D-2

Recent Form - DDLWW

Possible Line-ups

Athletic (4-2-3-1) - Iraizoz - De Marcos - Gurpegi - Etxeita - Balenziaga - Beñat - San José - Eraso - Raúl Garcia - Susaeta - Aduriz

Granada (4-4-2) – J. Fernández - Foulquier - Babin - Ricardo Costa - Biraghi - Rubén Pérez - Doucoure - Cuenca - Rochina - Peñaranda - El-Arabi

Injury List / Suspended Players

Athletic - Laporte (inj) - Merino (inj) - Lekue (inj)

Granada - Success (sus) - Diego Mainz (in doubt)

Head-to-head matches:

League Positions