Athletic Bilbao v Barcelona Betting Preview – La Liga 28th October 7.45pm
Barcelona remains unbeaten for the season in the Spanish top flight and after a draw with Atletico Madrid recently, they immediately got back to winning ways last weekend with a win over Malaga. They head out on the road this weekend to face an out-of-sort Athletic Bilbao who have seen a lot of Barcelona over the last couple of season, too much probably as they have struggled for any returns against the Catalans.
Athletic Bilbao v Barcelona Betting Tips
Athletic Bilbao are only a mid table side in La Liga this season and considering the poor form that they have put up lately, it’s a bit of a surprise that they aren’t a bit worse off. Bilbao have picked up just the four league points in their last six games in the league now in a W1 D1 L4 record and their only success in that sequence was a 1-0 home win over Sevilla. This season in the league on home soil specifically, Athletic Bilbao have produced a W2 D1 L1 record. So that isn’t bad and the only defeat in that sequence happened against Real Madrid back on September 20th. There hasn’t been a great deal of output from them offensively this season with just the ten league goals in ten games. They have also conceded ten so they have broken even and under 2.5 goals at Ladbrokes returns a price of 5/4 and the home side may struggle to get on the board and Barcelona to win to nil is at 13/8 with Ladbrokes.
Barcelona holds a four point cushion at the top of La Liga over Valencia, five clear of Real Madrid. They have produced a powerful W8 D1 L0 record for the season so far, the only dropped points coming recently in a 1-1 draw at Atletico Madrid. In their nine league games, this season Barcelona have scored 26 goals at just under three per game, so they should have the quality to take maximum points in this one. It just may not be the biggest of wins for them and in the Ladbrokes correct score market a Barcelona 2-0 result returns a price of 13/2 and there is a 7/1 price on 1-0 for them, so the bookmakers aren’t expecting a big score in this one. There’s reason to go low to as Barcelona have only landed narrow wins in their last two trips to Bilbao.
Barcelona have picked up a 1-0 win in their last two league visits to Athletic Bilbao. There have been a total ten games between these two clubs over the last two seasons because of all the cup meetings that they have gone through. From that sequence of then, games head to head Barcelona have a W7 D1 L2 record from that sequence and both defeats in that run of games against Bilbao did happen out on the road for them. But right now they are looking very strong and should collect the points. Lionel Messi is a short 2/1 Ladbrokes first goalscorer option for the game and he is on eleven goals for the seasons in the league from his nine games. He is on a two match scoreless streak in top flight, but that just means that he is probably due one. Luis Suarez is an 8/11 anytime goalscorer option for the fixture.
Athletic Bilbao v Barcelona Betting Odds
Barcelona 9/20, Draw 7/2, Athletic Bilbao 6/1
Athletic Bilbao v Barcelona Predictions
Barcelona to win: Barcelona should win this but as the Champions League is coming up you can consider just a conservative, lower scoring affair from them. This game may actually struggle to get above the 2.5 goal line so go under and Barcelona to win.
