Sporting Gijon vs Athletic Bilbao Predictions & Betting Tips, Match Previews

Athletic Bilbao finished 5th in La Liga last season and they’ll be aiming to go one better this term and secure a return to the Champions League. Much is likely to be dependent on Aritz Aduriz who bagged 36 goals in all competitions last season but turns 36 this term. They will need a few other players to step up to the plate in terms of goals but have yet to make any signings this summer although they have promoted 4 players from their reserve team which was in the Segunda Division last season.

They’ve only won 1 of their 8 pre-season games although that was against their toughest opponents in the shape of Borussia Dortmund. They drew 5 of those friendlies including a 1-1 draw against Sunday’s opponents Sporting Gijon.

Sporting dramatically beat the drop on the final day of last season with a 2-0 home win against Villarreal,winning all of their final 3 league games at El Molinon which is where the vast majority of their points came. They go into this season with a new-look side but worryingly it looks to be a weaker one. The cash-strapped club have again had to be primarily reliant on loan signings and free transfers but they don’t look to have captured anyone of the class of Halilovic or Sanabria who brought real attacking quality to their play last term but have since left. They’ve also lost centre-back Luis Hernandez to Leicester on a free and it’s likely to be a long season for Gijon.

The opening day can throw up the odd strange thing but on paper at least Athletic will take to the field with considerably the stronger team and should have enough firepower to win the game but they weren’t entirely convincing at the back last year so you couldn’t rule out a home goal.

Overall backing Athletic Bilbao to win 2-1 at 15/2 looks to offer the best value in the correct score market.