Real Madrid vs Athletic Bilbao Predictions

• Real Madrid have won eight of their last nine home La Liga matches
• Athletic Bilbao have lost two and drawn one of their three away games against current top-six clubs
• Real Madrid have won six of the last eight head-to-head meetings of the clubs

Ancelotti’s side have the edge

Real Madrid should get the better of Athletic Bilbao in a clash of two in-form teams at Estadio Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday night.

The La Liga leaders have won three and drawn one of their last four La Liga games and remain unbeaten at home in all competitions this season.

But it won’t be formality against a good Bilbao side that have won three of their last four and kept Barcelona at bay when they visited the San Mames recently. Five Lions received international call-ups with four in the senior Spain squad this time, which illustrates how much quality Ernesto Valverde has at his disposal.

Bilbao can bag in narrow defeat

But Real Madrid’s squad depth is much deeper and their top-end quality looks plenty good enough to get the job done even if the visitors are not just a tiny bit distracted by the upcoming Copa del Rey Final.

The hosts are a short price, but given the nature of their recent home results it is hard to enhance it by accurately predicting whether they will keep a clean sheet or score a hatful of goals. Carlo Ancelotti’s side have kept three clean sheets in a row at home, but Bilbao have scored in three of their last five road trips.

The Basque team have only twice conceded more than two goals on their travels but Real have scored three or more in three of their last five home league games. The home side know any win will do at this stage of the season and with some big games coming up they may settle for whatever they can get here – with a 2-1 victory predicted.