Ath Bilbao vs Valencia prediction: SPAIN: LaLiga betting tips on match 2024-08-27 17:00.
[p]Two sides yet to record their first victories of this La Liga campaign clash here at San MamĂ©s. Athletic Bilbao followed up their opening-round 1-1 draw with Getafe by suffering a 2-1 defeat at Barcelona although boss Ernesto Valverde remained upbeat after the loss to his old employers, stating his team are âdoing wellâ despite their winless start. Perhaps misfortune has also played a part, with Athletic being forced to use third-string goalkeeper Ălex Padilla at Camp Nou after minor injuries to Unai SimĂłn and Julen Agirrezabala.[/p]
[p]Valverde will hope to have one of the two available here as Athletic bid to avoid two successive league defeats for the first time since May 2023. However, confidence should be high that an unwanted pair of losses can be avoided given their imperious home league form in recent times, with the Basque club having not tasted a La Liga defeat on their own patch in over 12 months (W12, D7). Â [/p]
[p]Valencia were one of the sides who almost stunted that unbeaten streak last October when they were denied a 2-1 win by a 97th-minute Ălex Berenguer equaliser, although they did get revenge in the reverse fixture by triumphing 1-0 to end what had been a five-game winless H2H run. Manager RubĂ©n Baraja would welcome another result like that as his team bids to pick up their first three points of 2024/25 (L2) and also end a concerning sequence of nine league matches without a victory (D2, L7). [/p]
[p]Los Chesâ under-pressure boss has called for âcalmâ at this early stage of the season, yet Valenciaâs form last term away to sides of Athleticâs quality will add to fears that their recent slide could be set to continue. They went the whole league campaign without winning on their travels against any team who also finished inside the top ten, as Athletic did (D1, L8)![/p]
[p]Players to watch: Oihan Sancet has hit the ground running, with a first-half goal in both Athletic league games so far this term – his only H2H strike came in 2022/23. Valenciaâs Hugo Duro was the difference-maker when these two last met and scored on the opening matchday of this season, but just one of his past four goalscoring appearances for Valencia has ended in a win for Barajaâs men (D1, L2). [/p]
[p]Hot stat: Valencia have scored more than a single goal in just one of the past ten H2Hs. [/p]
[p][i]Written by David H[/i][/p]