Athletic Bilbao vs Espanyol Prediction and Match Preview
Athletic Bilbao vs Espanyol
La Liga, KO: 13:00 Oct 19, 2024, Estadio de San Mames
Athletic Bilbao go head-to-head against Espanyol on Saturday. Read our Predictions and Betting Tips with Match Preview, Head-to-head stats (h2h) and Team Form Analysis.
Our prediction for this Primera Division match:
Athletic Bilbao and Espanyol square off against each other at Estadio San Mames in what is expected to be an entertaining La Liga game. The Lions are eyeing their third home win of the process, but they will have to prove their worth on the field. Pacey winger Nico Williams is a major doubt, while defender Aitor Paredes misses out through suspension. Fellow defender Yeray Alvarez remains in the recovery room.
Los Periquitos, on the other hand, are a team with two faces. Espanyol are tough to beat at home, but given their poor away record in the new Primera Division campaign, home win should be considered. When the two teams met at “San Mames” in the Copa del Rey last year, we believe that there is a big value in betting on the Basque outfit. All Javi Puado, Leandro Cabrera, and Eduardo Exposito are out of contention with injuries for the visiting team.
Athletic Bilbao vs Espanyol Match Preview
After a struggling start, Bilbao managed to clinch some motivating displays and surfed to the fifth position in the standings. The team entered the last Laliga match against Girona following a six-match unbeaten streak across all competitions. However, the fixture ended as a 2-1 defeat for them.
Bilbao will hope to regain their consistency and on Saturday, they will host Espanyol in the 10th round of Laliga match-ups. Espanyol is having an unimpressive form since the beginning of this season. They lost three of their last four league matches and are positioned at 14th in the standings.
Moving on, Athletic Bilbao can rely on the recent tradition since they were victorious in the last two head-to-head meetings against Espanyol. Their form is even better at this venue as the team recorded five unbeaten games in the last six meetings against Celta Vigo.
How the bookies view it: The hosts go in as favourites.
Athletic Bilbao will be hoping that this is a good opportunity to get themselves back on track and the bookies believe that they will do exactly that. A win for the hosts has been priced at 4/9 by BW777 while a victory for Espanyol has been priced at 13/2. The draw, which would be a disappointing result for Athletic Bilbao, has been priced at 7/2 by wk777.
Highlighted Player (Iñaki Williams):
Inaki Williams is one of the most talented Spanish players. The pacey winger, who plays as a centre-forward as well, started his senior career at Basconia, scoring seven goals in 18 appearances for the club. In 2014 he moved to Athletic Bilbao, but he played for the reserve team at the beginning.
Inaki impressed in the 2014/2015 season with Athletic Bilbao B and, as a result, he was given a chance to prove his worth in the Spanish top flight with the first team. The Spanish footballer made his La liga debut on December 6, 2014, replacing injured attacker Aritz Aduriz in a 1-0 loss to Cordoba.
Inaki Williams represented Spain at the 2017 U21 European Championship in Poland and he played 20 minutes in a 1-0 loss to Germany in the final of the tournament. Speaking of the senior squad, the Athletic Bilbao footballer made his Spain debut in a 3-1 victory over Bosnia on May 29, 2016. Inaki Williams was born in Bilbao on June 15, 1994.
Recent head-to-head: Advantage Athletic Club
Recent fixtures between these two sides have frequently gone the way of Athletic Bilbao with the Basque side winning three of the last four H2Hs. Espanyol’s last victory over Athletic Bilbao was in September 2022 in a match also played at Estadio de San Mames. That win should give them confidence ahead of their visit to the stadium this weekend.
Highlighted Team (Espanyol):
Espanyol are a Catalan club that plays in Spanish La Liga. Espanyol were founded in 1900 and their original name was Sociedad Espanola de Football. In 1901 the Catalan club changed its name to Club Espanol de Futbol. Los Periquitos used to play in bright yellow shirts in the past, but current colour of the team’s home kit is blue and white.
Espanyol’s fiercest rivals are Barcelona and the two teams face each other in the Catalan derby (Derbi barceloni). Espanyol have always been in Barca’s shadow, but it has to be noted that los Periquitos have won four Copa del Rey (Spanish Cup trophies).
The likes of Raul Tamudo, Jose Maria, Antonio Argiles and Mauricio Pochettino are players with most appearances for the Catalan outfit. Espanyol play their home games at Estadio Cornella-El Prat and the capacity of the stadium is 40,500. Los Periquitos have never participated in the Champions League.
Players to watch: Two key men to be forced to come off the bench?
The two most important players to both clubs are both currently in a race to be fit for this one with Athletic Bilbao’s Nico Williams and Espanyol’s Javi Puado both doubts.
While both men may not start the match, they should both at least make their respective substitutes benches which means we could get a scenario where the match is decided late on when both men take to the field.
Williams was missing for Spain over the international break due to a muscular problem but his importance to his club his clear. He recorded a ridiculous 18 assists across all competitions last season is by far and way their most creative player.
Javi Puado’s impact on Espanyol is more centred around his goalscoring. His 16 league goals last season were a big reason for their promotion and he has already netted a hat-trick in La Liga this campaign.
Predicted line-ups
In addition to the two aforementioned players, both teams are missing other players for this one. Athletic Bilbao will be without Alex Padilla, Yeray Alvarez and Unai Simon due to injury and Aitor Paredes due to suspension. Meanwhile, Espanyol are missing Edu Exposito and Leandro Cabrera.
Athletic Bilbao: Agirrezabala – De Marcos, Lekue, Vivian, Boiro – Gomez, Galarreta, Herrera – I.Williams, Guruzeta, Berenguer
Espanyol: Garcia – El Hilali, Gomez, Kumbulla, Romero – Lozano, Gragera – Carreras, Kral, Cardona – Veliz
Athletic Bilbao vs Espanyol Prediction
Athletic Bilbao is having a decent form at home of late. They were unbeaten in 24 of their past 25 matches at home. Do also note that they won three of the last five home outings.
Meanwhile, Espanyol have not been able to pull any trees on the road lately. They follows a seven-game winless streak and has won just once in the past 13 road trips. They lost three of their total four league road trips this season too.
Do also note that Espanyol failed to score in three of their four league road trips and has allowed six in that period. On the other hand, Bilbao netted 6 goals in their last three home outings and will enter this match following a 2-0 Europa League victory against Alkmaar.
For all the above reasons, we like to back Athletic Bilbao to bag a win scoring two unanswered goals on Saturday. The -1.5 Asian Handicap tip is another fitting option considering the goalless display of Espanyol.