Villarreal v Athletic Bilbao

Villarreal vs Athletic Bilbao Preview

Mid-table outfit, Villarreal, registered a welcome and much-needed victory last weekend in the Spanish top flight with a 3-2 win away from home at lowly Granada and the hosts return to their Estadio de la Cerámica for Sunday evening's clash with Athletic Bilbao who were held to a 2-2 draw at home by Valencia last time out.

Following that desperately needed three points, Villarreal have lifted themselves up into a more respectable looking 12th place in the La Liga table but the hosts have still only managed to collect three wins from their opening 11 games of this new Spanish top flight campaign.

Victories against Mallorca, Almeria and the aforementioned Granada, have all been achieved against teams sitting in the bottom five positions of the La Liga table while two of these three wins were actually picked up on their travels.

Switch to results on home soil at their Estadio de la Cerámica and you'll see that Villarreal have only managed to pick up just the one win from their last seven attempts which came in the form of a 2-1 win against Almeria, but Pacheta's side have also slumped to four defeats already at home so far this season which doesn't bode well for this upcoming visit from Athletic Bilbao.

Despite being held to a 2-2 draw at home by Valencia last weekend, Athletic Bilbao still occupy sixth place in the La Liga standings where the visitors will look to launch an assault upon the top four pack by recording all three points at Villarreal on Sunday evening.

Athletic Bilbao trail fourth placed Barcelona by a six-point margin but having lost just twice in their last 10 matches overall in the Spanish top flight, the visitors will be fairly confident that they can produce a positive result here at the Estadio de la Cerámica.

Ernesto Valverde's side have captured five wins from these last eight matches which have seen Athletic Bilbao pick up maximum points against Osasuna, Real Betis, Cadiz, Alaves and Almeria, while the bigger picture shows Athletic Bilbao have been handed just four defeats out of their previous 13 outings on the road.

Interestingly, eight of Athletic Bilbao's last 13 away games have also resulted in Under 2.5 goals (61.5%) so this is also worth bearing in mind for this upcoming fixture.

Villarreal v Athletic Bilbao Verdict

Although Villarreal recorded a comprehensive 5-1 victory at home against Athletic Bilbao in their last meeting at the Estadio de la Cerámica, the hosts have struggled for results on home soil in recent times and this could leave the door open for an away victory for Bilbao this Sunday.

Athletic Bilbao have lost just this once in their last nine meetings with Villarreal and the visitors look the better equipped to take the spoils here.

Therefore, our main bet will be Athletic Bilbao win @ 2.30

Other side bets worth considering:

Athletic Bilbao win & Under 2.5 goals @ 5.50

Correct Score: Athletic Bilbao 1-0 @ 9.00