Athletic Bilbao v Valencia

Athletic Bilbao vs Valencia Preview

Sunday evening features this upcoming top half clash in the Spanish top flight between sixth placed Athletic Bilbao and eighth placed visitors, Valencia, as these two sides fight it out for a place in the top six of the division and Athletic Bilbao will be keen to return to home surroundings after losing two away games while Valencia will be looking to build upon their recent victory over Cadiz.

Following an opening day 2-0 defeat home to Real Madrid, Athletic Bilbao had responded in positive fashion by putting together a solid and impressive six-match unbeaten sequence in the domestic top flight which has helped the hosts into early contention for a European spot next season.

Within this six-game unbeaten sequence, Athletic Bilbao recorded four wins that came in the form of victories over Osasuna, Real Betis, Cadiz and Alaves while also picking up points in draws with Mallorca and Getafe as well, so despite their recent defeats on the road at Real Sociedad and Barcelona, Sunday's hosts will still feel confident about their chances of collecting all three points at home against Valencia.

To underline this, Athletic Bilbao have won three out of their last four games on home soil at their San Mamés Barria, so the hosts will certainly fancy their chances here.

Onto Valencia, and the visitors moved up into eighth spot in the La Liga standings following their 2-0 home win against Cadiz last time out which will give Ruben Baraja and his players a welcome boost ahead of this tough looking trip to the San Mamés Barria to take on Athletic Bilbao.

Valencia had earlier started out of the blocks in impressive fashion as the visitors had registered early season wins against Sevilla and Las Palmas but they then somehow lost their way as the visitors managed to muster just one more win in their subsequent seven attempts which came by way of a comprehensive 3-0 home win against Atletico Madrid.

However, four defeats within this disappointing seven-game sequence saw Valencia slump to defeats at the hands of Osasuna, Alaves, Real Sociedad and Real Betis which far outweighed the minimal success of points earned in draws with Almeria and Mallorca.

Wins on the road have also been hard to come by for Valencia for some time as Ruben Baraja's side have managed to capture just three wins from their previous 20 outings on the road which does not appear to bode well for this upcoming fixture with Athletic Bilbao.

Athletic Bilbao v Valencia Verdict

Athletic Bilbao certainly look to be the favourites to take the spoils in this upcoming encounter especially as the hosts have won each of the last three meetings against Valencia, so a home win here is expected.

Therefore, our main bet will be Athletic Bilbao win @ 1.61

Other side bets worth considering:

Athletic Bilbao win & Over 2.5 goals @ 2.75

Correct score: Athletic Bilbao 3-0 @ 12.00