Athletic Bilbao vs Atletico Madrid

Atletico Madrid take a trip to the Estadio San Mamés to lock horns with La Liga high-flyers Athletic Bilbao in a mammoth league clash.

Athletic Bilbao’s pursuit of their first top-four La Liga finish since 2013/14 has gone according to plan thus far, as a spirited 1-1 draw at Sevilla last weekend kept them firmly in the top three. Despite letting Sevilla halt their eye-catching three-game winning league streak in Andalusia, ‘Los Leones’ won’t be short of confidence after recording three wins from five home La Liga matches this season (D1, L1). On top of that, Ernesto Valverde’s men are unbeaten in three consecutive top-flight H2Hs against Atletico (W2, D1), keeping a clean sheet in the last two. Picking up points at the weekend would see Athletic achieve a rare feat as they could go unbeaten in 4+ La Liga meetings with the Madrilenian heavyweights for the first time since 2003.

Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid’s third successive Champions League scoring blank condemned Diego Simeone’s to a damning 0-0 home draw with Club Brugge in midweek, significantly derailing their hopes of reaching the knockout stages. Despite lagging five points behind La Liga pacesetters Real Madrid and Barcelona, things are looking far better for ‘Los Rojiblancos’ in domestic football. Except for a 2-1 home defeat to Real Madrid on the stroke of September’s international break, the visitors have won three of their last four La Liga outings, netting 2+ goals in each success. After winning back-to-back league matches in the run-up to this trip, Atletico could register three La Liga victories on the spin for the first time in 2022/23. But an underwhelming run of three defeats from their last five La Liga encounters against Basque clubs is a worrying sign (W1, D1).