Ath Bilbao vs Atl. Madrid prediction: SPAIN: LaLiga betting tips on match 2023-12-15 15:15.
Athletic Bilbao have been presented with an excellent opportunity to collect a third win from four home meetings against Atlético Madrid on the basis of the recent respective home and away form of the two sides. Athletic go into this round as by far the most prolific scorers at home in La Liga (LL) this season after piling on a mammoth 22 goals in seven LL matches at San Mamés since an opening-weekend 2-0 loss to Real Madrid.
The hosts missed an opportunity to creep closer to the top four with a 1-1 draw away to relegation contenders Granada on Monday, a particular point of frustration for manager Ernesto Valverde, who felt his players worked hard enough to earn the three points, but “lacked the finesse” to do so. There have certainly been no such issues at home, having picked up 17 points of the last 21 on offer on their own patch.
AtlĂ©tico retain a tight grip on a top-four place but have let Real Madrid and Girona get away from them, courtesy of defeats to Barcelona (1-0) and Las Palmas (2-1) in their previous two LL road trips – results that have lessened the benefit of a perfect home record (W8). But those losses should be long forgotten now after a 2-0 victory over Lazio during the week confirmed their progression to the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League as group winners.
But while they should be high on confidence after excelling in Europe’s premier competition, there have been too many errors domestically away from CĂvitas Metropolitano to give Diego Simeone’s men significant belief that they can collect their second competitive win of the week. Of the five teams ranked 11th or better at the start of the round that AtlĂ©tico have visited for a LL match this term, they have defeated only one (D1, L3).
Players to watch: Gorka Guruzeta has found the net before half-time in three of Athletic’s last four LL home games, with his last six goals having all come at San Mamés. Atlético’s two 1-0 victories over Athletic last LL season came courtesy of winners from Antoine Griezmann.
Hot stat: The pre-match favourite has won 73% of LL games involving either club this campaign (W22, D5, L3).