Valencia are looking to secure their fourth consecutive win but they will have a difficult match on Wednesday as they travel to the Basque Country to face Athletic Bilbao at San Mames Stadium. The reverse fixture was played in October and Valencia won it 3-2. That was the third consecutive home win for Valencia against Athletic Bilbao, but their away records against the Basque side is not as good: Valencia have not won in Bilbao since 2012, and six direct matches were played at San Mames since then.
Athletic Bilbao finally put an end to their six-game winless streak in LaLiga last week as they defeated Malaga 2-1. Despite their unconvincing form throughout the season, Athletic Bilbao have not lost a home match in LaLiga since October, and that defeat was against leaders Barcelona. In fact, Bilbao lost just two home matches all season, against Barcelona and Atletico Madrid. Mikel Rico, Mikel Balenziaga and Iker Muniain are injured and won't be able to play in this match.
Valencia are getting closer to nailing a remarkable achievement, a top-four place finish in LaLiga and qualification for next season's Champions League. They are on a three-game winning streak at the moment, but fifth-placed Villarreal are just seven points behind and could get very close very fast if Valencia slip up. Head coach Marcelino might want to rotate a few of his players because they have another tough match at the weekend when they face sixth-placed Sevilla. Javi Jimenez and Ezequiel Garay are injured, while Andreas Pereira is a doubt ahead of Wednesday's match.
Probable line-ups:
Bilbao: Arrizabalaga - Marcos, Alvarez, Martinez, Saborit - Iturraspe, Etxebarria - Williams, Garcia, Susaeta - Aduriz
Valencia: Neto - Vezo, Paulista, Murillo, Gaya - Soler, Kondogbia, Parejo, Guedes - Mina, Zaza
My prediction: Valencia to win 1-0.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Bilbao win - 2.62
Draw - 3.20
Valencia win - 2.79
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