Football – Spain – La Liga
Sunday 9th November 2014 – Kickoff: 1900hrs
Valencia are placed just one league place below the current La Liga leaders Real Madrid and just one point as they head into this weekend’s fixtures in the Spanish top flight.
Valencia host mid-table Athletic Bilbao at their Estadio de Mestalla having won three of their last four La Liga matches with wins over Atletico Madrid, Elche and Villarreal with just one defeat all season so far.
That loss came away from home in a 0-3 defeat at Deportivo la Caruna but aside from that blip, Valencia have been in strong form both home and away, registering seven league wins from their first ten matches.
Valencia’s home record stands at an excellent 5-0-0 15/3 and they’re scoring plenty of goals too as they’ve scored 3 goals in all five of their home matches to date with midfielder Parejo and forwards Alcacer and Piatti in harness. Former Manchester City striker Negredo is also getting some game time off the bench as he returns to full fitness.
Visitors Athletic Bilbao currently occupy a mid-table position in La Liga but this is largely thanks to a solid home record so far where they’ve lost just once this season. Following a recent run of six league matches without a win, Athletic Bilbao have registered back-to-back wins in their last two matches with wins over Almeria away and Sevilla at home.
The win at Almeria halted a run of four straight defeats on the road for the visitors who lost at Malaga, Barcelona, Rayo Vallecano and Real Madrid with an overall record now of 1-0-4 2/10. It’ll be interesting to see if they’ve turned a corner on their travels or if it was just a one-off result.
That said, they now face one of the top clubs in La Liga in Valencia, and with the hosts possessing a very strong home record and plenty of attacking depth, I’ll back the hosts for perhaps a 2-1 win here tonight.
Pick: Valencia straight win @ 1.67 Coral
