Sevilla will be looking to kick-start their La Liga campaign when they welcome Athletic Bilbao to the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium on Saturday.
On the flip side, Bilbao will be hoping to maintain their impressive start to the season. Only Barcelona and Real Madrid sit above Ernesto Valverde’s side in the table.
🤜🤛 @IkerMuniain10 & De Marcos, un clásico 🔝🔙 ¿Repetimos?#SevillaFCAthletic #AthleticClub 🦁 pic.twitter.com/n3I4t5qH6j— Athletic Club (@AthleticClub) October 6, 2022
🤜🤛 @IkerMuniain10 & De Marcos, un clásico 🔝🔙 ¿Repetimos?#SevillaFCAthletic #AthleticClub 🦁 pic.twitter.com/n3I4t5qH6j
At the opposite end of the standings, Sevilla find themselves fourth from bottom – four points above last-place Elche and 11 points behind third-place Bilbao.
Sevilla have only managed to win one of their seven La Liga games this season, registering two draws and four losses along the way.
The Andalucia outfit lost three of their opening four matches before beating Espanyol on Matchday 5. Since then, however, they have taken one point from a possible six.
To make matters worse, only four teams have conceded more La Liga goals than Sevilla’s 13 – meaning they average 1.85 goals against this term.
On Wednesday, Sevilla suffered a 4-1 thrashing to Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League. As a result, head coach Julen Lopetegui was sacked.
As for Athletic Bilbao, they have only lost one of their seven league outings this season – securing five wins and one draw in the process.
Only Barcelona and Real Madrid have claimed more victories than Bilbao this term, while only the two El Classico rivals have suffered fewer defeats.
Not only do Bilbao have the third-best offensive record in the division (16), but they also have the third-best defensive record (4).
Bilbao head into Matchday 8 on a three-game winning streak, having dispatched Elche (4-1), Rayo Vallecano (3-2) and Almeria (4-0). They have also won five of their past six.
Head-to-head: It is worth noting that Bilbao have only managed to win two of their last seven La Liga matches against Sevilla.
Across all competitions, seven of the previous nine meetings between Sevilla and Bilbao have produced under 2.5 goals.
Team news: Sevilla look set to be without winger Tecatito and centre-back Karim Rekiki due to injury this weekend.
Bilbao also have two injury absentees at the moment, with left-back Yuri Berchiche and centre-back Dani Vivian expected to miss Saturday’s clash.
Given Sevilla’s wretched start to the season, Bilbao will be confident of claiming all three points at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium.
Forbet predicts that Athletic Bilbao will heap more misery on struggling Sevilla, with the visitors scoring over 1.5 goals on their way to victory.