La Liga: Valencia Desperate for Victory over Athletic

Valencia vs Athletic Bilbao

Valencia’s promising start to the new La Liga season has come to a sudden stop. Los Che have now lost back-to-back games, which has halted their positive momentum under new manager Jose Bordalas.

Valencia will look to get back to winning ways when they host Athletic Bilbao, who are also in need of a win after a dramatic defeat in midweek.

Read on for a full preview of this 4th-vs-7th clash in La Liga at the Mestalla this weekend.

Talking Points

Valencia in a losing skid

After starting out the season strong with three wins in four games, Valencia are now in the midst of their first losing streak under new manager Jose Bordalas. Granted, those two defeats have come against two of the top four teams in Spain: Real Madrid and Sevilla.

Valencia played quite well against Real and were a bit unlucky to lose as Los Blancos staged a late comeback. However, Los Che were thoroughly outplayed in their midweek clash with Sevilla, who effectively sealed the 3-1 win inside the first half-hour with goals from Papu Gomez, Gonzalo Montiel, and new signing Rafa Mir.

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Valencia keenly felt the absence of key midfielder Carlos Soler, who picked up an injury in the loss to Real. They are also still missing star left-back Jose Gaya, right-back Thierry Correia, and midfielder Denis Cheryshev.

But on the bright side for Los Che, Hugo Duro is having a strong start to the season. The 21-year-old, who came over from Getafe on loan, has now scored in back-to-back games after grabbing a consolation goal against Sevilla.

Valencia still need more in attack beyond Duro, though, especially with Soler out. Portuguese striker Goncalo Guedes has cooled off slightly after a promising start and has just one shot in his last two games.

Athletic need attacking spark

Like Valencia, Athletic Bilbao also had a fine run of early La Liga 2021 results as they went unbeaten in their first five games – two wins and three draws, including two against Barcelona and champions Atletico Madrid.

However, their unbeaten run finally came to an end in midweek at the hands of newly promoted Rayo Vallecano, with Radamel Falcao scoring the winning goal in stoppage time.

Similar to past seasons, scoring goals remains quite a struggle for Athletic. They have managed just five through their first six games, with Inaki Williams contributing two.

Athletic’s attacking woes have been more glaring in the last few games, though, as they’ve managed just one shot on target in their last two outings.

Athletic Bilbao will rely on Iñaki Williams to net goals against Valencia in their La Liga match — Iñaki Williams celebrates after scoring a goal for Atheltic Bilbao during their match against Barcelona at San Mames Stadium

Williams was only a second-half substitute in midweek against Rayo, but Athletic manager Marcelino will likely bring him back into the starting lineup to provide a much-needed attacking spark.

But despite Athletic’s continued attacking shortcomings, they are still a very solid defensive team, with just three goals conceded this season.

Centre-back Yeray Alvarez, who has yet to play this season, is getting closer to making his return. But young Dani Vivian has done a fine job partnering Inigo Martinez in Alvarez’s absence.

History

Valencia and Athletic Club have been evenly matched over the years. In their last 29 league meetings, Valencia hold a very slight 11-9 edge in wins, with nine draws.

Both of their meetings last season ended in draws. The first matchup at the Mestalla was an entertaining 2-2 stalemate. Carlos Soler put Valencia ahead through a first-half penalty, but Athletic came roaring back to take a 2-1 lead. However, Valencia equalised seven minutes from time through Manu Vallejo.

Athletic have won just once in their last nine meetings against Valencia, but that came at the Mestalla in 2020 when Raul Garcia bagged a brace in a 2-0 win.

Betting Tip

	Valencia vs Athletic Bilbao	1X2 Draw @ 3.10
	September 25, 22:15 (GMT+8)

The La Liga 2021 betting odds at SBOTOP have Valencia priced as slight 2.49 favourites at home, with Athletic not far behind at 2.88. A draw is similarly priced at 3.10.

As the odds bear out, these are two quite evenly matched teams, so expect this to be a fairly competitive game. Both teams also possess fairly limited firepower, so it’s unlikely there will be too many goals flying in.

Being the home team, Valencia should be on the front foot for most of the match, but Bilbao’s defence will not be easy to break down. So with all of those factors in mind, I expect this matchup to end in another draw.