Malaga vs Athletic Bilbao Predictions & Betting Tips, Match Previews

Athletic Bilbao come into this game in really good shape, having won all of their last 4 league matches following a bit of a poor start. The most recent was a convincing 3-1 win over Sevilla last weekend at San Mames but they’ve showed their metal on the road too, fighting hard for narrow wins at Deportivo La Coruna and Granada. They weren’t at their best on Thursday in the Europa League but still picked up an important 1-0 home win against Rapid Vienna thanks to a Beñat goal.

Athletic’s ‘Basques only’ policy means international breaks tend to work in their favour as almost none of their players go away. Therefore, with a 2 week rest coming up, they have no reason not to name their strongest side again here despite having played in Europe on Thursday night.

That’s bad news for Malaga who really haven’t been that impressive so far this term. Juande Ramos would have looked upon his side’s opening six fixtures as a really good chance to get some points on the board but they’ve won just once so far and have lost 3 of their last 4 league games, including a disappointing 1-0 defeat at Real Betis last weekend. Scoring goals again looks like it is going to be a problem for them and despite adding a host of attacking players over the summer, they are still not really clicking as an effective attacking unit.

Athletic meanwhile opted for continuity with virtually nobody coming or going from San Mames in the summer. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as they look a very solid top six side and one capable of going away to sides from mid-table down and winning. Malaga are still the slight favourites with the bookies so far but they’ve not done enough to justify that this season and backing Athletic Bilbao 0.0 Asian Handicap at 2.050 looks to offer value here.