Athletic Bilbao vs Villarreal

Athletic Bilbao and Villarreal are set to trade tackles at the Estadio San Mames in a top-seven La Liga six-pointer.

Athletic Bilbao’s pursuit of their first top-four La Liga finish since 2013/14 is running out of steam as they’ve alternated between drawing (2) and losing (2) in their last four league outings since a 4-0 demolition of Almeria in late September. Following a thumping 4-0 defeat away to Barcelona in the previous La Liga round, ‘Los Leones’ could lose back-to-back top-flight fixtures for the first time since May 2021. Villarreal’s visit to the Basque country couldn’t have been timed any better, with Bilbao going unbeaten in their last seven La Liga H2Hs (W2, D5). Furthermore, Ernesto Valverde’s men have only lost once in their ten previous top-flight home matches against Villarreal on home turf (W5, D4), courtesy of a 3-0 thrashing in September 2018.

In the meantime, Villarreal claimed a come-from-behind 2-1 home win over Almeria last weekend to maintain their topsy-turvy four-game form in La Liga (W2, L2). Worryingly for the visitors, who waved goodbye to head coach Unai Emery in midweek, since winning their opening two away league matches, they’ve gone winless on their last five La Liga travels (D2, L3). It’s now up to new boss Quique Setien to buck that trend and find a way to break Villarreal’s dreadful five-game scoring league duck on the road. Another scoring blank would see ‘El Submarino Amarillo’ set an unwanted piece of history and go six successive top-flight away fixtures without finding the net for the first time. On the bright side, they’ve conceded a league second-low seven goals this season, highlighting the importance of addressing their scoring woes.