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:

March 29, 2024
Cadiz 21:00 Granada
March 30, 2024
Getafe 14:00 Sevilla
Almeria 16:15 Osasuna
Valencia 18:30 Mallorca
Barcelona 21:00 Las Palmas
March 31, 2024
Celta Vigo 12:00 Rayo Vallecano
Girona 14:15 Real Betis
Alaves 16:30 Real Sociedad
Real Madrid 19:00 Athletic Bilbao
April 1, 2024
Villarreal 19:00 Atlético de Madrid
April 4, 2024
Granada 18:00 Valencia
April 12, 2024
Real Betis 19:00 Celta Vigo
April 13, 2024
Atlético de Madrid 12:00 Girona
Rayo Vallecano 14:15 Getafe
Mallorca 16:30 Real Madrid
Cadiz 19:00 Barcelona
April 14, 2024
Las Palmas 12:00 Sevilla
Granada 14:15 Alaves
Athletic Bilbao 16:30 Villarreal
Real Sociedad 19:00 Almeria

Spanish Primera Table

# Team MP W D L F A G P
1 Real Madrid 29 22 6 1 64 20 +44 72
2 Barcelona 29 19 7 3 60 34 +26 64
3 Girona 29 19 5 5 59 34 +25 62
4 Athletic Bilbao 29 16 8 5 50 26 +24 56
5 Atlético de Madrid 29 17 4 8 54 34 +20 55
6 Real Sociedad 29 12 10 7 42 31 +11 46
7 Real Betis 29 10 12 7 34 33 +1 42
8 Valencia 28 11 7 10 32 32 +0 40
9 Villarreal 29 10 8 11 47 51 -4 38
10 Getafe 29 9 11 9 37 42 -5 38
11 Las Palmas 29 10 7 12 29 32 -3 37
12 Osasuna 29 10 6 13 33 43 -10 36
13 Alaves 29 8 8 13 26 35 -9 32
14 Mallorca 29 6 12 11 25 35 -10 30
15 Rayo Vallecano 29 6 11 12 25 38 -13 29
16 Sevilla 29 6 10 13 36 44 -8 28
17 Celta Vigo 29 6 9 14 32 44 -12 27
18 Cadiz 29 3 13 13 20 40 -20 22
19 Granada 28 2 8 18 30 58 -28 14
20 Almeria 29 1 10 18 28 57 -29 13

Spanish Primera Results

March 17, 2024
Atlético de Madrid 0 - 3 Barcelona
Rayo Vallecano 2 - 0 Real Betis
Villarreal 1 - 0 Valencia
Las Palmas 0 - 1 Almeria
Sevilla 1 - 2 Celta Vigo
March 16, 2024
Athletic Bilbao 2 - 0 Alaves
Getafe 1 - 0 Girona
Osasuna 2 - 4 Real Madrid
Mallorca 1 - 0 Granada
March 15, 2024
Real Sociedad 2 - 0 Cadiz
March 11, 2024
Almeria 2 - 2 Sevilla
March 10, 2024
Real Betis 2 - 3 Villarreal
Real Madrid 4 - 0 Celta Vigo
Las Palmas 0 - 2 Athletic Bilbao
Alaves 1 - 0 Rayo Vallecano
March 9, 2024
Girona 2 - 0 Osasuna
Granada 2 - 3 Real Sociedad
Cadiz 2 - 0 Atlético de Madrid
Valencia 1 - 0 Getafe
March 8, 2024
Barcelona 1 - 0 Mallorca

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