Athletic Bilbao vs Villarreal Predictions

• Villarreal have won three of their last four La Liga away games, including at Barcelona and Real Sociedad
• Athletic Bilbao have spent the week celebrating their famous cup win
• Alexander Sorloth has scored eight goals in his last 10 La Liga appearances

Bilbao at a standstill after Barge parade

Athletic Club brought Bilbao to a standstill last weekend with their long overdue Copa del Rey win, but Ernesto Valverde’s side may find it tough to go through the gears against an in-form Villarreal outfit.

Celebrations in the Basque city have gone on all week, peaking with the barge parade on Thursday that brought a million fans to the banks of the Estuary of Bilbao. It is not hard to envisage how this unusual week may adversely affect Valverde’s side, who are very consistent at home.

Form-wise, this Sunday’s game brings together the team with the second-best recent home record and the side boasting the joint-best away sequence of results since January. But it is also easy to imagine that the form book could go out of the window due to the different preparations of Athletic Bilbao.

Yellow Submarines can torpedo Valverde’s ship

The value in the markets will be with Villarreal winning the game as they have proven ability to shock top teams after recent 5-3 victories at second-placed Barcelona and a 3-1 success against sixth-placed Real Sociedad.

And the Yellow Submarines also bring one of La Liga’s most prolific marksman to the San Mames with Alexander Sorloth now boasting 17 goals for the season and eight in his last nine games in all competitions.

He could make the difference in this clash, which will probably feature a few goals as all recent Villarreal away games have done. Marcelino’s men came within a few minutes of taking a point from Atletico Madrid last weekend and, if there is any hangover from the cup celebrations, they can spoil the party with a draw in Bilbao.