Read our prediction for Ath Bilbao vs Espanyol below. This preview was written by a sport journalist who is specialised in betting tips and predictions. Use our betting tips for the match between Ath Bilbao vs Espanyol and you can increase your winnings!
Ath Bilbao vs Espanyol Prediction & Betting tips
The kick-off of the 27th round of play in La Liga is for Athletic Bilbao and Espanyol, who will face each other on Friday-evening in the San Mames. Both teams have managed to work on the safe middle class after a lesser phase.
Athletic Bilbao:
Athletic Bilbao can breathe a sigh of relief. Earlier this season, the Basques were anxiously close to the relegation zone, but since the appointment of trainer Gaizka Garitano, things have improved a lot. Meanwhile, the red-white with 33 points are in twelfth place and are thus almost assured of a new season at the highest level.
Yet Garitano still has enough work to do in the San Mames, because with only 25 league goals in 26 rounds, Athletic Bilbao is the second-least scoring team of La Liga. In previous years, Artiz Aduriz largely took care of the Basque goal production, but the striker is now 38 years old and is increasingly struggling with pains. Also this weekend he is back in the rag basket. In addition, the club from Bilbao takes a lot of cards this season – 83 times yellow and four times red. That is a big problem, because of the planned basic eleven, no less than four players are on the alert with Inigo Martinez, Yeray Alvarez, Oscar de Marcos and Iker Muniain. With a new yellow card they miss the cracker against Atletico Madrid next week.
Espanyol:
Espanyol is back on the road after a lesser phase. The Catalans are in fact in a series of five unbeaten duels in a row and last week they succeeded in transferring 3-0 to PhD student Real Valladolid. It was the first time since 147 days that the blue-whites once again scored three times in a competition. ‘We needed this,’ according to club top scorer Borja Iglesias, who already managed to open the score in the first minute.
On Friday evening trainer Rubi will have to puzzle, because Espanyol knows quite a few absentees. Borja Iglesias has been suspended, while Sergi Darder and David Lopez also have to be absent. This has affected the entire axis of Los Pericos. However, the absence of Iglesias means that on the other side of the globe millions of Chinese are ready to see their hero Wu Lei in action again. No less than forty million Chinese TV viewers saw him debuting and 25 million saw him make his first goal on Espanyol last week. The shirt sales have shot up since the arrival of The Chinese Maradona and even the presenter of the sports news is dressed in blue-white. From a technical point of view, the arrival of Wu Lei was a big success, but now he has to make it happen within the lines.
Ath Bilbao vs Espanyol head to head matches
05.11.18 LL Espanyol Ath Bilbao 1 : 0
20.05.18 LL Ath Bilbao Espanyol 0 : 1
14.01.18 LL Espanyol Ath Bilbao 1 : 1
04.04.17 LL Ath Bilbao Espanyol 2 : 0
06.11.16 LL Espanyol Ath Bilbao 0 : 0