Deportivo La Coruna vs Athletic Bilbao Predictions & Betting Tips, Match Previews

On the face of it, it’s been a good start to the season for Depor. They have 4 points from 2 games following a 2-1 win over Eibar and 0-0 draw at Real Betis, which new boss Gaizka Garitano will be more than content with. However, he’s likely to be more than a little frustrated by the departure of star striker Lucas Perez to Arsenal and the club’s inability to find an adequate replacement. They missed out on a couple of targets on deadline day and the only player they did manage to bring in was Joselu on loan from Stoke, who has only ever hit double figures in a season when playing for Real Madrid’s B team in the lower leagues.

Defensively though Depor look to have improved under Garitano as they found clean sheets very hard to come by last season and they will fancy this, given that Athletic have made their customary slow start. They’ve lost their opening two games, losing 2-1 at Sporting Gijon on the opening day and 1-0 at home to Barcelona last time out. They did almost nothing in the transfer market and were by far the quietest of the clubs in La Liga and look like they’re going to be reliant on 35 year old Aduriz repeating his goal-scoring heroics of last year if they are to challenge in the top six.

They’ve really not impressed so far though and would’ve been 3-0 down at Sporting on the opening day had the Asturians not missed a penalty. Their record at the Riazor is also very poor so they haven’t really done much to justify their status as clear favourites with the bookmakers for this game. They should have enough to get something from it but against draw specialists Depor it’s hard to see them winning.

Depor drew 18 of their 38 league games last season, 6 more than any other side and a draw here wouldn’t be regarded as a disaster by either coach, so backing it to finish in a 1-1 draw at 5/1 looks to offer value.