Valencia vs Athletic Bilbao Prediction, Betting Tips & Preview

Preview

Joel Amorim Feb 26, 2016 @ 01:55 am

Next Sunday, 28th of February 2016, a super motivated Valencia will measure forces with Athletic Bilbao at the emblematic Mestalla Stadium for Round 26 of the Spanish Liga BBVA.

Valencia seem to have finally found their path to success after four consecutive wins in their last competitive matches. Gary Neville, who was under heavy crossfire last month, is now living the dream, as Los Che seem to have rediscovered their joy in playing football again.

After a narrow home win over Espanyol and a true goal galore against SK Rapid Wien, Valencia clawed an important, but extremely difficult 2-1 win during their visit to Los Cármenes last weekend. One goal by Dani Parejo and another by former Celta de Vigo wonder boy Santi Mina allowed Valencia to clinch their second consecutive league win and to return to winning ways away from Mestalla.

After their spectacular 6-0 win over SK Rapid Wien last week, Valencia managed to almost replicate the same result on their visit to Austria last Thursday. Without several first-team players, Valencia clawed a splendid 4-0 win, something that allowed them to increase their motivation levels even more.

For next weekend’s important match against Athletic Bilbao, Gary Neville is not yet certain if he will be able to rely on the services of Santi Mina, Gaya, Siqueira and Abdenour, who are still recovering from their respective injuries.

As for Athletic Bilbao, the Basque team have been going through a complicated moment at La Liga after failing to win any of their last three matches. Last weekend, Athletic were surprised by their neighbours and rivals of Real Sociedad in the Basque derby, who won 1-0 at San Mamés, thanks to a first-half goal by Jonathas de Jesus.

Ernesto Valverde’s men didn’t seem affected by the defeat and put up a solid performance in their last Thursday’s match against Olympique Marseille for the second-leg match of the Europa League at San Mamés. A late goal by Merino allowed Athletic to secure a 1-1 draw and to grant a place in the next stage of the tournament.

For next weekend’s visit to Mestalla, Ernesto Valverde will not be able to rely on the services of Raul Garcia, who is currently suspended, and of Iñaki Williams and Ibai Gomez, who remain sidelined due to injury.

Valencia

Stats: W-4 L-0 D-1

Recent Form - WWWWD

Athletic

Stats: W-1 L-2 D-2

Recent Form - DLWLD

Possible Line-ups

Valencia (4-5-1) – Alves - Aderlan - Mustafi - Cancelo - Barragan - Pérez - Dani Parejo - Gomes - Feghouli - Cheryshev - Paco Alcácer

Athletic (4-2-3-1) - Iraizoz - De Marcos - Gurpegi - Laporte - Balenziaga - Beñat - San José - Merino - Susaeta - Muniain - Aduriz

Injury List / Suspended Players

Valencia - Santi Mina (in doubt) - Gaya (in doubt) - Siqueira (in doubt) - Abdenour (in doubt)

Athletic - Iñaki Williams (inj) - Ibai Gomez (inj) - Raul Garcia (sus) - Iker Undabarrena (inj)

Head-to-head matches:

League Positions