Valencia vs Ath Bilbao prediction: SPAIN: LaLiga betting tips on match 2023-02-10 20:00.
In his eighth interim spell after the late-January sacking of Gennaro Gattuso, Voro González (L2) has overseen yet more difficult times for Valencia whose situation is starting to snowball. Their latest setback came in a 1-0 defeat to Girona meaning they’re six games without a La Liga (LL) win (D1, L5), having also failed to score in three successive defeats for only the second time in ten years.
Never in their LL history have Los Che lost four successive games without scoring, but that can’t be written off here. Valencia sit just one point above the drop zone ahead of the round and Voro has admitted that his side are firmly in a "relegation battle" as Athletic Bilbao come to town – a side they haven’t beaten in the last six league attempts (D4, L2).
Perhaps a silver lining can be found in the disastrous away form of their visitors, with Athletic failing to win any of their last seven games on the road (L4, D3). Though this isn’t unfamiliar territory for recently-reappointed manager Ernesto Valverde, as he oversaw nine successive games without a LL away win at the back-end of his last spell in charge – with the eighth game in that run a 2-0 away defeat to Valencia!
It’s not all doom and gloom, as a spectacular 4-1 victory over Cádiz last time out means Athletic sit just two points outside LL’s top-six. Their quest for a first participation in UEFA competition since 2017/18 may depend on improving their results away from San Mamés, and they know they have the firepower to do so with only Barcelona and Real Madrid hitting more LL goals than Los Leones (29) ahead of the round.
Key battle: Goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili made a personal season-high seven stops last time out and Valencia may need him to be on top form again as he meets Athletic forward Oihan Sancet. Sancet scored LL’s first hat-trick of the campaign last time out and is the fifth youngest player to score two league hat-tricks in the 21st century.
Hot stat: Valencia have dropped the most LL points from winning positions this season (14).