La Liga: Valencia vs Athletic Club Odds & Preview
In-Form La Liga Sides Meet
Athletic Club on La Liga’s Longest Active Winning Streak
Valencia and Athletic Club are two of the most in-form teams in Spanish soccer. Athletic Club are on the longest active winning streak in La Liga, at four games, and are coming off a Basque Derby win. Meanwhile, Valencia have won three La Liga games on the bounce. Both teams play midweek Copa del Rey round of 16 matches before facing off on Saturday at the Estadio de Mestalla. We’ll check out the La Liga: Valencia vs. Athletic Club for one of the most intriguing matches of the week.
Valencia vs Athletic Club
Date, time:
Location: Estadio de Mestalla, Valencia, Spain
Streaming: Live Sports Stream
Head-to-Head
This will be the second La Liga meeting of the season between Valencia and Athletic Club. Back in October, Bilbao’s Alex Berenguer scored a stoppage time equalizer in a 2-2 draw. Last season’s La Liga results in this fixture finished 1-0 and 2-1 to Athletic Club. Bilbao also defeated Valencia 3-1 in the 2023 Copa del Rey Quarter-finals. So, Athletic Club head into this match on a five-game unbeaten run vs. Valencia.
Valencia Put Four on Cadiz
Before taking on Athletic Club on Saturday, Valencia face Celta Vigo on Wednesday in the Copa del Rey round of 16. Last weekend, Valencia put four on the board in a road game at Cadiz. Diego Lopez torched Cadiz down the right flank and sent in a ball that Hugo Duro finished off in the eighth minute. Cadiz equalized on a penalty but Lopez put Valencia ahead once again in the second. Valencia also scored twice in stoppage time as they came away with a 4-1 win.
Los Murcielagos have scored seven goals in their last two La Liga games and have climbed to eighth place in the table with three straight wins. Duro’s currently in eighth in the La Liga stats, with eight goals and he’s one of the young stars turning Valencia around. After nearly succumbing to relegation last season, under-25 players like Duro, Garcia, Javi Guerra and Francisco Perez have rejuvenated Valencia.
Currently, the La Liga: Valencia vs Athletic Club odds price Los Murcielagos as +235 underdogs for Saturday’s match. Selim Amallah and Mouctar Diakhaby are away at the Africa Cup of Nations. Meanwhile, Roman Yaremchuk is questionable with an illness and Andre Almeida is out with a back injury.
Athletic Club on Long Unbeaten Run
Athletic Club made up for an early season Basque Derby loss by taking down rivals Real Sociedad 2-1 last Saturday. Alex Berenguer scored a double for Bilbao in the victory and Sociedad could only manage a late consolation goal. On Tuesday, Athletic Club were also in action in the Copa del Rey round of 16. There, they took down Alaves 2-0 as Asier Villalibre scored a brace. Athletic Club are now unbeaten in their last 14 games, in all competitions.
Bilbao have also won their last six games, which includes four straight in La Liga. Athletic Club haven’t made the top four, and by extension the Champions League, since the 2013-14 season. Still, the La Liga odds price them at +135 odds to remain in the top four come season’s end. Right now, Athletic Club are in third place but they’ve played one more game than both Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, who are hot on their heels.
Berenguer did an excellent job in place of Iñaki Williams, who’s playing in AFCON with Ghana. Expect him to get another opportunity on the wing on Saturday. Meanwhile, Dani Garcia is out injured for the Basque club. Heading into this match, Bilbao have kept five clean sheets in their last six games overall. During that time, they’ve scored two goals per game.
Match Analysis & Odds
As two of the league’s hottest teams face off, the La Liga: Valencia vs Athletic Club odds list the visitors as +120 favorites. That corresponds to an implied 45.5 percent chance of victory for Athletic Bilbao. Valencia haven’t lost at home for over three months and the last team to defeat them at the Estadio de Mestalla was Athletic Club’s Basque rivals Real Sociedad. So far this season, Valencia are 0-2-2 vs. the current top four teams.
Los Murcielagos are +235 underdogs for Saturday’s match but they’ve been building a ton of confidence in recent weeks. Bettors may also want to consider taking Valencia pk, +0.5 at -105 and Athletic Club pk, -0.5 at -115. Since drawing at home vs. Valencia in October, Athletic Club have won 11 of their last 13 games, in all competitions. Unai Simon has been one of the standout goalkeepers in Europe’s top five leagues this season and he’s kept a La Liga-leading nine clean sheets.
Both over and under 2, 2.5 goals are priced at -110 odds for this one. Meanwhile, a draw sits at +240 and two of the last four La Liga meetings have finished all square. With the form these teams are in, this should be one of the best watches of the weekend.
Valencia vs Athletic Club Odds
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