Almeria v Athletic Bilbao

Almeria vs Athletic Bilbao Preview

Almeria find themselves cast adrift at the bottom of the Spanish top flight table following their latest defeat in La Liga last weekend with a 2-1 loss away from home at Valencia, leaving Monday night's hosts a massive 14 points adrift of safety, while Athletic Bilbao registered a comprehensive 4-0 rout of Mallorca at home last weekend which has helped the visitors maintain their fifth place position in the La Liga table.

Almeria still therefore remain the only team yet to register a league win so far in this season's La Liga campaign which has no doubt contributed to Gaizka Garitano's side sitting bottom of the table and the hosts' situation has now reached a critical stage having lost five of their last six matches overall.

Defeats to Barcelona, Osasuna, Real Madrid, Alaves and Valencia have only been the tip of what has been a substantial iceberg for Almeria as the hosts have actually been handed a total of 17 defeats within their 23 league matches played to date, while the bigger picture shows Almeria have now failed to win any of their last 26 matches in La Liga.

Almeria therefore look to have a mountain to climb here on Monday night, especially as the hosts are without a win in their last 12 attempts on home soil and failing to score in six of these games.

Athletic Bilbao returned to winning ways in emphatic fashion in last weekend's La Liga action as they recorded a landslide 4-0 victory over Mallorca which saw them bounce back from a 1-0 defeat away from home at Valencia followed by a disappointing 0-0 draw away from home at Cadiz.

Nevertheless, Athletic Bilbao have now suffered just the single defeat from their last 13 matches overall in the Spanish top flight which has helped Ernesto Valverde's side maintain their challenge for a European spot next season and the visitors will fancy their chances of extending this promising sequence of form at Almeria on Monday night as well.

Eight wins within these last 13 matches also places Athletic Bilbao in a seemingly favourable position from which to grab another three points at Almeria's expense on Monday night and these eight wins include wins on the road at Villarreal and Sevilla. The bigger picture shows Athletic Bilbao have been dealt just three defeats from their previous 22 games overall in the domestic top flight so this solid run of results should stand the visitors in good stead at the Power Horse Stadium as well.

Almeria v Athletic Bilbao Verdict

Athletic Bilbao have held the upper hand in previous exchanges as the visitors have won the last five meetings on the trot, and this trend looks set to continue on Monday night.

Therefore, our main bet will be Athletic Bilbao win @ 1.72 Other side bets worth considering:

Under 2.5 goals @ 2.00

Correct Score: Athletic Bilbao 1-0 @ 7.50