Athletic Bilbao v Getafe

Athletic Bilbao vs Getafe Preview

Thursday evening also brings in the start of a new Spanish top flight season and features this upcoming clash between Athletic Bilbao and Getafe when the two teams kick-off at the San Mamés Barria with the hosts looking to further improve upon last season's fifth place finish, while Getafe will be keen to achieve at least a top half finish in La Liga this time around having ended up in 12th place at the end of the last campaign.

Athletic Bilbao finished last season's domestic top flight campaign with back-to-back wins gained over the likes of Sevilla and Rayo Vallecano respectively and their fifth place finish also earned Ernesto Valverde's side another European campaign this term in the Europa League as well.

The upcoming hosts also produced an excellent record at home in last season's La Liga campaign as they were handed just the one defeat on home soil at their San Mamés Barria all season with only the La Liga title winners, Real Madrid, possessing a better home record than Athletic Bilbao.

Incidentally, Athletic Bilbao's only loss at home in La Liga was dealt out to them by Real Madrid in their opening home game but Valverde's side subsequently put together an impressive 18-match unbeaten sequence thereafter, which included 12 wins.

Getafe had to settle for a 12th place finish at the end of last season's La Liga campaign with the visitors' season fizzled out in disappointing fashion as they suffered five defeats on the trot to finish their campaign on a losing note.

Defeats towards the end of the season to Athletic Bilbao (at home), Cadiz, Atletico Madrid, Alaves and Mallorca left a lot to be desired and indeed manager Jose Bordalas is expected to be under pressure to inspire his squad to produce a much better showing at the start of this new season as a result.

To make matters worse, Getafe also failed to score in four of these last five league matches as well, while the bigger picture shows the visitors managed to capture just two wins in their final 14 league matches in the domestic top flight.

Victories gained over Girona and Almeria were outweighed by also being handed eight defeats in the process and it is worth noting that eight out of Getafe's 10 wins in total last term were achieved on home soil at their Estadio Coliseum, whilst picking up just two away wins all season.

In addition, Getafe lost nine of their 19 away games in La Liga last season.

Athletic Bilbao v Getafe Verdict

Goals could be at a premium here though on Thursday night, being the opening game of the new La Liga season but Athletic Bilbao should come out on top in this curtain-raiser.

Therefore, our main bet will be Under 2.5 goals @ 1.80

Other side bets worth considering:

Athletic Bilbao win & Under 2.5 goals @ 3.10

Correct Score: Athletic Bilbao 1-0 @ 5.50