Athletic Bilbao vs Villarreal Preview

 

Athletic Bilbao vs Villarreal

Competition – Spanish Primera

Stadium – San Mamés

Date: 19th November 2017

Kick-off time – 19:45 GMT

This game is historically one of the closest fixtures in the Spanish calendar with both teams always looking to get a Europa League spot at the end of the season.

Although Villarreal are the stronger team heading into this fixture, it is always hard to beat Athletic Bilbao when they play at home.

However, these are tough times for Athletic who have only taken 4 points from their last 8 games.

Their decline should be predictable as it has been a long time since they made a quality addition to their squad with their preference for Basque players to blame for their lack of transfer activity.

While they are reliant on an ageing Aritz Aduriitz who turns 37 this season in their attack, they have been impressive at home defensively as they have kept a clean sheet in 60% of their home games with only Barcelona and Atletico Madrid scoring there.

Villarreal will face a tough task breaking down Bilbao but they are also a solid side defensively and they will be looking to keep a blunt Bilbao attack at bay too.

When they both met last season, each team won on their own perch but Villarreal have lost 4 of their last 5 visits here.

Results of each team’s last 5 matches across all leagues and competitions

Athletic Bilbao

LAST FIVE GAMES DATE COMPETITION
L Celta Vigo 3-1 Athletic Bilbao Nov 5, 2017 Spanish Primera División
W Athletic Bilbao 1-0 Östersunds FK Nov 2, 2017 UEFA Europa League
L Athletic Bilbao 0-2 Barcelona Oct 28, 2017 Spanish Primera División
D SD Formentera 1-1 Athletic Bilbao Oct 25, 2017 Spanish Copa del Rey
L Leganes 1-0 Athletic Bilbao Oct 22, 2017 Spanish Primera División

Villarreal

LAST FIVE GAMES DATE COMPETITION
W Villarreal 2-0 Málaga Nov 5, 2017 Spanish Primera División
W Slavia Prague 0-2 Villarreal Nov 2, 2017 UEFA Europa League
D Atletico Madrid 1-1 Villarreal Oct 28, 2017 Spanish Primera División
L Ponferradina 1-0 Villarreal Oct 25, 2017 Spanish Copa del Rey
W Villarreal 4-0 Las Palmas Oct 22, 2017 Spanish Primera División

H2H

LAST FIVE GAMES DATE COMPETITION
Villarreal 3-1 Athletic Bilbao Apr 7, 2017 Spanish Primera División
Athletic Bilbao 1-0 Villarreal Nov 20, 2016 Spanish Primera División
Athletic Bilbao 0-0 Villarreal Feb 6, 2016 Spanish Primera División
Villarreal 0-1 Athletic Bilbao Jan 13, 2016 Spanish Copa del Rey
Athletic Bilbao 3-2 Villarreal Jan 6, 2016 Spanish Copa del Rey


Other fixtures taking place this week in the Spanish Primera:

April 27, 2024
Las Palmas 13:00 Girona
Almeria 15:15 Getafe
Alaves 17:30 Celta Vigo
Atlético de Madrid 20:00 Athletic Bilbao
April 28, 2024
Cadiz 13:00 Mallorca
Granada 15:15 Osasuna
Villarreal 17:30 Rayo Vallecano
Real Betis 20:00 Sevilla
April 29, 2024
Barcelona 20:00 Valencia
May 3, 2024
Getafe 20:00 Athletic Bilbao
May 4, 2024
Real Sociedad 13:00 Las Palmas
Real Madrid 15:15 Cadiz
Girona 17:30 Barcelona
Mallorca 20:00 Atlético de Madrid
May 5, 2024
Osasuna 13:00 Real Betis
Celta Vigo 15:15 Villarreal
Valencia 17:30 Alaves
Rayo Vallecano 20:00 Almeria
Sevilla 20:00 Granada
May 10, 2024
Alaves 20:00 Girona

Spanish Primera Table

# Team MP W D L F A G P
1 Real Madrid 33 26 6 1 71 22 +49 84
2 Girona 33 22 5 6 69 40 +29 71
3 Barcelona 32 21 7 4 64 37 +27 70
4 Atlético de Madrid 32 19 4 9 59 38 +21 61
5 Athletic Bilbao 32 16 10 6 52 30 +22 58
6 Real Sociedad 33 13 12 8 46 35 +11 51
7 Real Betis 32 12 12 8 40 38 +2 48
8 Valencia 32 13 8 11 35 34 +1 47
9 Villarreal 32 11 9 12 51 55 -4 42
10 Getafe 32 9 13 10 38 44 -6 40
11 Osasuna 32 11 6 15 37 46 -9 39
12 Sevilla 32 9 10 13 41 45 -4 37
13 Las Palmas 33 10 7 16 30 41 -11 37
14 Alaves 32 9 8 15 28 38 -10 35
15 Rayo Vallecano 32 7 13 12 27 39 -12 34
16 Mallorca 32 6 13 13 26 38 -12 31
17 Celta Vigo 32 7 10 15 37 47 -10 31
18 Cadiz 32 4 13 15 22 45 -23 25
19 Granada 32 3 9 20 33 61 -28 18
20 Almeria 32 1 11 20 31 64 -33 14

Spanish Primera Results

April 26, 2024
Real Sociedad 0 - 1 Real Madrid
April 22, 2024
Sevilla 2 - 1 Mallorca
April 21, 2024
Real Madrid 3 - 2 Barcelona
Alaves 2 - 0 Atlético de Madrid
Almeria 1 - 2 Villarreal
Getafe 1 - 1 Real Sociedad
April 20, 2024
Girona 4 - 1 Cadiz
Valencia 1 - 2 Real Betis
Rayo Vallecano 2 - 1 Osasuna
Celta Vigo 4 - 1 Las Palmas
April 19, 2024
Athletic Bilbao 1 - 1 Granada
April 15, 2024
Osasuna 0 - 1 Valencia
April 14, 2024
Real Sociedad 2 - 2 Almeria
Athletic Bilbao 1 - 1 Villarreal
Granada 2 - 0 Alaves
Las Palmas 0 - 2 Sevilla
April 13, 2024
Cadiz 0 - 1 Barcelona
Mallorca 0 - 1 Real Madrid
Rayo Vallecano 0 - 0 Getafe
Atlético de Madrid 3 - 1 Girona

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