Bilbao barracade to stand firm in Sevilla
Early season highflyers Athletic Bilbao travel to Seville to face Julen Lopetegui’s side who are leading the chasing pack in third place. Both sides earnt positive results before the winter break and will be looking to kick on in their first matches of the new year. The hosts enjoyed a comprehensive 2-0 win away to relegation scrapping Mallorca before the festive period and Friday’s visitors were even more impressive in shutting out the Galacticos on route to a goalless draw at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Recent form
Three of Sevilla’s four La Liga home victories have come to nil, and that combined with Bilbao’s desperate away form in front of goal this season could see a positive outcome on Friday evening. They have conceded 0.88 goals on average per match at Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium in 2019/20 with intriguingly tight first halves being a trend. Only 0.5 total goals scored in the first half of their league home games, suggesting the opening exchanges could be very hard fought in this encounter. Athletic have only won once on the road all season despite their well earned seventh place in the table, adding to the slow start, eight of Sevilla’s last nine goals in front of their own fans have come after 60 minutes.
Munir El Haddadi
24 year old Spanish striker Munir has had a tough start to the season, seeing the majority of his opportunities come in the Europa League, in which he is second overall top scorer, however was beginning to show his true abilities at a domestic level towards the end of 2019, with back to back La Liga strikes against Osasuna and Villarreal. Friday’s visitors have the joint-second best defensive record in the division and therefore it seems clear that Sevillawill have to throw everything at them to get the three points. El Haddadi offers a different threat to the likes of Lucas Ocampos and Luuk De Jong and will need to contribute if they are to breakdown the Basque defence.
Yuri Berchiche
Former Cheltenham Town loan signing Yuri Berchiche has had an excellent first half of the season in going forward and back. Suring up the left side of defence adding to Gaizka Garitano’s men’s solidity and popping up with two goals to double his tally for the club. The journeyman Tottenham Hotspur youth product is a senior member of the squad now and looks settled and assured in the Bilbao backline that has given them crucial footholds in this much improved campaign.
Bilbao will contain Sevilla for long periods and ultimately ensure that this game does not stretch out of their grasp.
Post bet chat Marcus's Tips:
A dour affair played out with only three shots on target in total, a disappointing 1-1 draw for Sevilla.