Read our prediction for Villarreal vs Ath Bilbao 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 Villarreal vs Ath Bilbao and you can increase your winnings!
Villarreal vs Ath Bilbao Prediction & Betting tips
On Tuesday evening, the 15th matchday will open in the Spanish LaLiga, but the fight for the round takes a back seat, because traditionally on December 22nd there is the raffle for “El Gordo”, the Spanish lottery, the incredible 2 , Pays out 4 billion euros.
Head coach Unai Emery’s yellow submarine currently surpasses the already strong season of the previous year and ranks fourth in the current LaLiga table in Champions League. However, the ranking in Spain should still be treated with caution, as the number of games varies between twelve and 14.
The guests from the Basque Country are currently in tenth place, but were able to finish a four-match series of victories at the weekend. Nonetheless, the best bookmakers consider their guests to be clearly outsiders.
Villarreal:
The yellow submarine from Villarreal will get more attention in the Austrian media in the next few weeks. In the UEFA Europa League, head coach Unai Emery’s team will face Austrian champions Red Bull Salzburg in the first knockout round. An absolute top game in the round of 32, because both teams have great ambitions.
Despite his return to Europe, head coach Javi Calleja was sacked and Unai Emery signed a name. A decision that has paid off, because after playing 13 games, the yellow submarine 2020/21 has seven points more on the credit side than in the previous year.
The team suffered their only defeat of the season on matchday three against FC Barcelona (0: 4), otherwise they have six wins and seven draws on the credit side. Villarreal has been unbeaten in eight league games (across all seasons) at their home Estadio de la Ceramica and has only conceded five goals in seven home games this season.
On the fourth weekend in Advent, Villarreal lived up to the role of favorite in Pamplona and was able to prevail 3-1 against promoted Osasuna. A game in which Unai Emery surprised many football fans with a courageous line-up, because neither Real Loan Take Kubo nor the highly talented Samu Chukwueze were in the starting line-up. Fer Nino and Yeremi Pino took over these places, two youngsters from their own academy who are still largely unknown.
The enormous breadth of the squad and the many young talents that are increasingly imposing (Alex Baena also falls into this category) provide an enormous number of opportunities. Accordingly, Villarreal is by no means overplayed and can always change cheerfully. This means that failures like that of veteran Vincente Iborra are easy to cope with.
Emery and the yellow submarine have so far been watching like a fist and the team is swimming on a wave of success. With this self-confidence, the prognosis of a home win is obvious at Villarreal against Athletic Bilbao.
Athletic Bilbao :
While Villarreal is much more successful this season than a year ago, the development of Athletic Bilbao is exactly the opposite. The Basques have already played 14 games and had six more points on their credit side at this point in the season.
The reason for this situation is due to the services abroad. As usual, Bilbao is strong at home in the San Mames stadium, with an average of two points per home game (4-0-2 balance). Away from home, however, the Garitano team could only prevail against Eibar on matchday three, drew twice and already suffered five away defeats.
Although Athletic Bilbao was able to stop the negative run last weekend after four home games without a win against SD Huesca (2-0 win thanks to two last-minute goals), the poor away record and the form in the duel Villarreal against Athletic Bilbao speak against a tip on the Basques.
On Tuesday evening, Basque Inaki Williams will be on the pitch for Bilbao again, playing his 172nd La Liga game in a row. The last time the 26-year-old Williams missed a league game for his hometown club in April 2016. With his 172nd appearance in a row, he will also overtake the world-famous Alfredo di Stefano (Real Madrid, 1953-1959, 171 games in a row). Only three players (Jon Andoni Larranaga holds the record with 202 games) are ahead of him.
Long-running Williams is not only the constant in the team, but also one of the guarantors of success, who always creates a goal threat. The trained center forward, however, often evades to the wing and accordingly his goal rate is manageable.
Villarreal vs Ath Bilbao head to head matches
01.03.20 LL Ath Bilbao Villarreal 1 : 0
03.11.19 LL Villarreal Ath Bilbao 0 : 0
20.01.19 LL Villarreal Ath Bilbao 1 : 1
26.09.18 LL Ath Bilbao Villarreal 0 : 3
09.04.18 LL Villarreal Ath Bilbao 1 : 3