Rayo Vallecano vs Athletic Bilbao Betting Tips

Athletic had been in excellent form going into last weekend when they suffered a disappointing 2-0 defeat after a below-par performance at Granada. However they have still won 6 of their last 7 matches in all competitions after bouncing back impressively in midweek by winning 3-2 away to Augsburg in the Europa League thanks to two late goals from Aritz Aduriz who is having another unbelievable season in front of goal.

This will be a tough match for them though. Rayo have picked up a bit in recent weeks and have taken 7 points from their last 4 fixtures and they’ve won their last 2 matches at the Estadio del Rayo Vallecano and 3 of their last 4 there.

Goals seem highly likely in this match given both sides are typically fairly positive. There have been 3 or more goals in 5 of the last 6 matches involving Athletic and in 8 of their last 10 games in La Liga.

Rayo always seem to throw caution to the wind and there have been 3 or more goals in all but one of their last 5 at home in La Liga. Therefore backing there to be over 2.5 goals in this one at 4/5 looks like a pretty sure thing.

The visitors are the favourites but given they played a tough away game in Europe on Thursday and were really poor last weekend at Granada, a Rayo side that are in decent form are capable of getting something from the game. It should be a good watch and a 2-2 draw seems like a nice bet in the ‘correct score market’ at odds of 11/1.