Sevilla are third in La Liga and five points off of first place in the division. They will welcome Athletic Bilbao on Friday night with the hope of cutting into Barcelona’s lead.
Athletic Bilbao are eighth in La Liga and four points off of the top four. The Basque club is winless in their last three league games.
Sevilla are unbeaten in three straight home matches versus Athletic Bilbao in La Liga. The visitors have struggled away to Sevilla and should once against find it difficult to win at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium.
👋🏻 Hi, @SevillaFC_ENG! 🛬We are ready! 😎 🔜 #SevillaFCAthletic in @LaLigaEN #AthleticClub 🦁 pic.twitter.com/RvbdHDMm6u— Athletic Club (@Athletic_en) January 3, 2020
👋🏻 Hi, @SevillaFC_ENG! 🛬We are ready! 😎 🔜 #SevillaFCAthletic in @LaLigaEN #AthleticClub 🦁 pic.twitter.com/RvbdHDMm6u
Athletic Bilbao have taken just eight points from a possible 24 this term. The Basque side has won just once in their last six fixtures away from home.
Sevilla have not been great at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium this term. They have taken 14 points from 24 possible at home. Their last home fixture ended in a loss to Villarreal 2-1. Sevilla have scored 10 times at home while conceding seven times. Defence has been a strong point.
The home team is unbeaten in seven of the last 15 matches they have played against Athletic Bilbao in all competitions. They won versus Athletic Bilbao at home last term, 2-0.
Sevilla have struggled to score goals this term in the league. Despite their lofty league position, goals have not been prevalent. Forward Lucas Ocampos has been Sevilla’s break out star with five league goals. Franco Vazquez has added three goals.
Reports surfaced this week that Sevilla could sell defender Diego Carlos to Liverpool. However, those reports look to be false as Liverpool are unlikely to pay £65 million for the defender.
Like Sevilla, Athletic Bilbao have found goals difficult to come by at times. Raul Garcia leads Athletic Bilbao in goals with five in La Liga. They have only scored 19 overall with 12 goals conceded.
Ten of the last 20 matches between Sevilla and Athletic Bilbao in all competitions ended with both teams scoring goals. Nine of those 20 matches ended with over 2.5 goals scored.
Friday night’s match should once again see both teams score and over 2.5 goals go into the back of the net. These sides may not be scoring many goals this season, but should tally goals at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium.
Sevilla will pick up the victory and continue their top four qualification hopes. A win would see them inch closer to Barcelona for at least 24 hours.