Competition: Spanish La Liga 2016-17
Sevilla vs Athletic Bilbao
Date: 2nd March, 20:30
Stadium: Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan


Sports Livestream ⚽ JOIN NOW for FREE
Instant access to the BT Sport, Sky Sports and Eurosport


Sevilla vs Athletic Bilbao Preview and Prediction

Sevilla very rarely drop points at home in La Liga and they will certainly be targeting the win here as they look to keep their surprise title challenge on track. Right now there is little about Athletic that suggests they will come here and get a result.

Jorge Sampaoli admitted last week for the first time that his side are title challengers and they showed real character to come from behind to win the Seville derby at Betis on Saturday. It was their 4th straight win in all competitions and keeps them within 2 points of leaders Real Madrid. At home they have been outstanding all season, winning 82% of their home league games. Sevilla average 2.55 points per home game, a record only Real can better.

They average exactly 2 goals per game in La Liga, which is excellent and unlike some of the other sides at the top, they tend to share the goals around the team. There are no Sevilla players in the top ten in La Liga’s goalscoring chart and their 2nd top scorer is actually midfielder Vicente Iborra, who has only made 6 league starts. He should get a start here due to suspensions and with 4 goals in his last 8 appearances, backing Iborra to score anytime at 11/4 looks good.

Athletic look like a club at a bit of a crossroads. At 36 Aritz Aduriz isn’t quite as prolific as he was last season and clearly will need to be replaced in the not too distant future. Right now though, there doesn’t really look like there’s anyone capable of filling that void and Athletic’s Basque-only transfer policy makes that not an easy problem to solve. They’ve scored just 0.64 goals per game away this term and with Aduriz injured, they may struggle to really test this Sevilla defence.

64% of Athletic Bilbao’s away games in La Liga have ended in defeat and that’s nowhere near good enough for a side that is targeting Europa League football as an absolute minimum requirement. They’ve taken just 0.73 points per game on the road and with some key players out, it’s hard to see them getting anything here so backing Sevilla to Win at 4/6 looks a pretty safe bet.

HEAD TO HEAD
Athletic have won the last 2 meetings but they were both at San Mames and Sevilla had men sent off in both games. Sevilla have taken 10 points from their last 4 home league games against the Basque club.
SEVILLA VS ATHLETIC BILBAO STATS
Sevilla have scored exactly twice in 46% of their home games in La Liga. They’ve scored twice or more in 7 of their last 8 home games in all competitions. Athletic have scored just 1 goal in their last 6 away matches in all competitions. They’ve played 400 minutes of football on the road since their last away goal.
SEVILLA TEAM NEWS

Steven N’Zonzi, Pablo Sarabia and Nico Pareja are all suspended. Matias Kranevitter should therefore get a start in midfield with Joaquin Correa wide on the right. Adil Rami will be partnered by Gabriel Mercado at centre-back due to an injury to Clement Lenglet.
ATHLETIC BILBAO TEAM NEWS


Raul Garcia returns from suspension in the number 10 role. With Aduriz injured, Inaki Williams should start up front again. Aymeric Laporte is hoping to be fit to return in central defence.
SEVILLA VS ATHLETIC BILBAO PREDICTIONS: Both team to score