Atletico Madrid vs Athletic Bilbao Prediction & Betting Tips - LaLiga

Prediction published on 24/10/2019, 03:09  by Donal Kearns | Modified on 25/10/2019 at 07:34 in LaLiga Predictions

It’s the hosts though who are undoubtedly in better shape form-wise, and they go into Saturday’s game defending a lengthy unbeaten run at Wanda and a dominant head to head record against Athletic Club from the sides’ recent meetings in Madrid. Tuesday’s slender 1-0 home victory in the Champions League against Bayer Leverkusen epitomised how unconvincing Atleti have been this season and how they generally seem to make hard work of most things, compared to the other top teams in Spain. Nonetheless, Diego Simeone’s men got the job done to put themselves in a commanding position to qualify for the knockout phase and the result extended Los Rojiblancos’ unbeaten stretch at Wanda to 15 matches in all competitions (W 10, D5). In terms of domestic matters, Simeone’s side have been frustrated by their four draws so far (including stalemates in their last three home outings) however, four wins and just one defeat from their other five fixtures mean they are still well placed in 5th, just three points behind leaders Barcelona. Atletico have to start winning more consistently if they are going to seriously challenge the defending champions this season, but they’ll fancy their chances of moving onto Barca’s coattails with a victory over Bilbao on Saturday night. Madrid have won nine and drawn one of their last ten home matches against Bilbao, including a cosy 2-0 success at Wanda last term. With the visitors failing to win any of their four away matches this season (D3, L1) and now without a victory in their last four games overall (D2, L2), there’s little to suggest that this will be a successful trip for Gaizka Garitano’s charges, who have now slipped to 8th after their promising start in the opening weeks of the campaign.