Athletic Bilbao vs Elche CF Live Stream, Predictions

📊 Form Guide

Athletic Bilbao

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Athletic Bilbao will be looking to improve on their last outing here after a 2-0 La Liga defeat last time out to Osasuna.

In that match, Athletic Bilbao had 52% possession and 10 attempts on goal with 5 on target. Osasuna had 8 attempts at goal with 3 on target. Ante Budimir (50') and Lucas Torró (77') scored for Osasuna.

It’s been a rare occasion in recent times where Athletic Bilbao have managed to hold out for a full 90 minutes. It will be a concern for them that Athletic Bilbao have failed to prevent opponents from scoring in 6 of their previous 6 games, giving up 11 goals in the process. That sort of trend might not be carried forward into this match, though.

Going into this encounter, Athletic Bilbao are unbeaten in the league by Elche CF in their last 3 games.

Elche CF

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In their last fixture, Elche CF drew 1-1 in the La Liga tie with Sevilla.

In that game, Elche CF had 72% possession and 20 shots at goal with 7 of them on target. The only player on the scoresheet for Elche CF was Tete Morente (25'). Sevilla got 9 shots on goal with 3 of them on target. Erik Lamela (10') scored for Sevilla.

Sebastián Beccacece's Elche CF have found the back of the net 8 times in the course of their latest six matches. The aggregate of goals that they have conceded during those same clashes adds up to 5.

Analysis of their past results shows that Elche CF:

• have not won against Athletic Bilbao when they have played them away from home in the previous 2 league games.
• have not won away from home in their last 6 matches in the league.

👥 Head to head

A review of their prior head-to-head meetings going back to 22/01/2020 shows that Athletic Bilbao have won 3 of these games & Elche CF 1, with the number of drawn games being 2.

A combined total of 13 goals were scored between them throughout the course of those matches, with 8 of them for Los Leones and 5 for Los Franjiverdes. That’s an average goals per game of 2.17.

The last league contest between the two was La Liga match day 5 on 11/09/2022 when it ended Elche CF 1-4 Athletic Bilbao.

That day, Elche CF had 47% possession and 9 attempts on goal with 2 on target. The goals were scored by Nicolás Fernández Mercau (9' Own goal) and Ezequiel Ponce (59').

Athletic Bilbao had 16 attempts on goal with 8 on target. Oihan Sancet (14'), Nico Williams (22') and Álex Berenguer (44') scored.

The match was refereed by Mario Melero López.

📋 Team News: Athletic Bilbao

Yeray Álvarez (Pubitis), Iñigo Martínez (Calf Strain), Jon Morcillo (Collarbone fracture), Dani García (Torn Collateral Ligament) and Ander Herrera (Hamstring Injury) aren’t available for Athletic Bilbao manager Ernesto Valverde.

We think that Los Leones may well line up in a 4-2-3-1 system in the match, handing starts to Unai Simon, Oscar de Marcos, Daniel Vivian, Aitor Paredes, Yuri Berchiche, Oihan Sancet, Mikel Vesga, Nico Williams, Iker Muniain, Alex Berenguer and Inaki Williams.

📋 Team News: Elche CF

Owing to a completely healthy group ready to go, the Elche CF manager Sebastián Beccacece has zero fitness worries to speak of coming into this match.

We are inclined to think that Los Franjiverdes seem likely to make use of a 4-2-3-1 formation, settling for Edgar Badia, Josan, Pedro Bigas, Carlos Clerc, Lautaro Blanco, John Nwankwo, Gerard Gumbau, Fidel Chaves, Pere Milla, Tete Morente and Lucas Boye.

💡 Prediction

In our view, Elche CF have the firepower to put a goal past this Athletic Bilbao team, although it isn’t expected to be as many as they’ll concede.

Our selection here is for a close game with a 2-1 winning score for Athletic Bilbao at the end of the match. It’s a very tough call.

Our expert partners are tipping over 1.5 goals for this match. Check out their VIP predictions here.

Andre Moura, 00:17 24/05/2023