Athletic Bilbao vs Real Betis Predictions and Betting Tips
Betis travel to Basque to take an Athletic Club in Monday's solitary Spanish top-flight encounter. Both sides will be keen on getting back to winning ways following disappointing results before the international break. With three points on show, we expect to see a closely-contested affair.
Betis, with just one win in five, have evidently struggled against Athletic Club. Their record away at their opponents is most appalling with their last win at the San Mames dating back to the 2012/13 season. They're most recent encounter ended in a 1-0 win for Bilbao who will be looking to further strengthen their head-to-head record against their opponents.
Disappointment so far for the Basque boys
Athletic Club hasn't managed to hit the ground running since the commencement of the 2020/21 season. They currently find themselves in 14th place after eight league games played with just three wins from those games. Although we've seeing flashed of the Basque Club we know, they haven't managed to string together a run of positive results. However, we fully expect them to find their feet soon enough.
Inaki Williams' late penalty wasn't enough to spark a comeback in their most recent game away at Real Valladolid. The home side with two goals in either half headed into the final few minutes of the game with a healthy two-goal lead. They eventually managed to see to the game to condemn Athletic Club to their fifth league defeat of the season.
Betis hammered at the Nou Camp
Betis' indiscipline at the tail-end of last season seems to have been carried over into this season. They have already copped four red cards in the first nine games of this young league campaign. Mandi's red-card in their most recent game at the Nou Camp opened the floodgates for Barcelona to score more in which they inevitably did. Having played at least a game more than most of the teams in the Spanish top-flight, they will most likely drop from the 7th position they currently occupy. This is expected to serve as an impetus for them to go hard against their rivals next Monday.
Athletic Bilbao vs Real Betis Team News
Mandi is expected to miss this game via suspension following his red card in their most recent game. Nabil Fekir and Sergio Canales are both expected to miss out with muscular problems.
Athletic Bilbao possible starting XI:
Simon; Martinez, Alvarez, Martinez, Capa; Lopez, D. Garcia; berenguer, R. Garcia, Munian; Williams
Betis possible starting XI:
Bravo; Emeson, Ruiz, Bartra, Moreno; Carvalho, Rodriguez; Joaquin, Sanchez, Tello; Sanabria
Athletic Bilbao vs Real Betis Prediction: 1-1
Both sides have failed to impress since the beginning of this season. Betis have lost five of their last seven while Bilbao has lost four of their last six- all league matches. As such, we find it hard picking a clear winner heading into this game as both sides will most likely cancel each other out.
