Will Athletic Bilbao heap more misery on winless Almeria?

Athletic Bilbao vs UD Almería - 06/10/2023

Cesar Ortiz Gonzalez / Shutterstock.com

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UD Almeria will go in search of their first La Liga victory of the season when they take on Athletic Bilbao at San Mames on Friday night.

Having failed to win any of their opening eight matches, Almeria find themselves rock bottom of the La Liga table – four points inside the relegation zone.

At the opposite end of the standings, Athletic Bilbao occupy sixth place – 11 points clear of Almeria and seven points shy of table-topping Real Madrid.

After starting their season with a 2-0 loss against Real Madrid, Athletic Bilbao chalked up a six-game unbeaten streak in the league.

Between mid-August and late September, Bilbao registered four wins and two draws, scoring 13 goals while keeping four clean sheets.

However, Athletic’s unbeaten run came to an end last time out, as they suffered a 3-0 loss against Real Sociedad, despite notching 18 shots.

Regardless of last weekend’s defeat, Bilbao will confident of returning to winning ways against struggling Almeria, who are yet to taste victory in 2023-24.

Indeed, Almeria have recorded three draws and five losses in the league this season, taking just three points from a possible 24.

After losing four of their opening five matches, Almeria held Valencia to a 2-2 draw before enduring a 5-1 thrashing at the hands of Sevilla.

However, Almeria’s season went from bad to worse last weekend, as they threw away a 3-0 lead to draw with Granada, conceding three goals in the final 30 minutes.

As a result, no team has conceded more La Liga goals than Almeria this term, although 10 sides have scored fewer goals than the bottom club.

Head-to-head: Athletic Bilbao have won each of their last four meetings with Almeria, scoring nine goals while keeping two clean sheets.

When you look at the bigger picture, Almeria have failed to win any of their previous 10 matches against Bilbao, suffering nine defeats in the process.

Team news: Athletic Bilbao will be without the injured trio of Unai Gomez (muscle), Peru Nolaskoain (knee) and Inigo Ruiz de Galarreta (calf) on Friday.

As for Almeria, Marc Pubill (unspecified), Luis Suarez (calf) and Martin Svidersky (knee) are sidelined due to injury, while Edgar Gonzalez, Cesar Montes and Lucas Robertone are doubts.

When you couple Almeria’s poor form with Athletic’s strong record in this fixture, all the signs point towards a comfortable home victory on Friday.

Forebet predicts that Athletic Bilbao will score over 2.5 goals and keep a clean sheet on their way to dispatching winless Almeria.

Home team
Away team

Probability %

1X2

Pred

Correct score

Avg. goals

Weather conditions

Coef.

Score

Live
coef.

Es1

Athletic Bilbao UD Almería 06/10/2023 21:00

632611

1

3 - 0

3.57

23°

1.40

1.40 4.33 8.00 no no no

FT

3 - 0(1 - 0)

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