Estadio San Mamés is the venue as Athletic Bilbao and Villarreal go head-to-head in a mid-table La Liga showdown.
Raul Garcia’s 44th-minute header fired Athletic Bilbao to a narrow 1-0 home win over Deportivo Alaves last time out, halting their run of three La Liga fixtures without winning (D2, L1). The Basque giants are also unbeaten in their last five top-flight meetings with Villarreal (W1, L4), all of which featured under 2.5 total goals, with neither side scoring more than once on each occasion. Goals have been at a premium for Athletic this term too, with ‘Los Leones’ netting an average of just 0.87 goals per La Liga match so far. But it’s worth noting that five of their seven league goals scored this season have come on home soil. The hosts have won two of their last three La Liga games at San Mamés (L1), just one victory less than they had across their first 12 home matches under Marcelino García Toral in the competition (W3, D7, L2).
Meanwhile, Villarreal’s shocking 2-1 home defeat to Osasuna last time out brought their seven-match unbeaten La Liga start to an end (W2, D5) as they continue to hover in the bottom half of the table. But a 4-1 thumping victory over Young Boys in the Champions League should inspire Villarreal’s hopes of snapping a five-match winless league streak away from home (D4, L1). Worryingly, though, ‘El Submarino Amarillo’ have picked up just one triumph in their last five top-flight visits to the Basque region (D2, L2) and have drawn a blank in three of their four La Liga travels this season. However, should they win here, it could be in emphatic fashion, as Villarreal’s last nine La Liga away victories have all arrived by a 2+ goal margin.
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