La Liga: Valencia vs. Athletic Bilbao

Posted on | November 29, 2007 | No Comments

It’s been a bad week for Valencia. No, I’ll change that. It’s been a bad year for Valencia. This club doesn’t seem to be able to get anything right. They were rather (un)dramatically thrown out of the Champions league on Wednesday following a dull goalless draw at home to Schalke 04, and need to beat Chelsea away to even qualify for the UEFA cup. In the league they are slipping too. The one nil defeat away to Racing de Santander did quite a bit of damage, pushing them down to sixth place in the table and five points from the top. Strangely, after thirteen games they still haven’t drawn a match, winning eight and losing five. Coach Ronald Koeman hasn’t made the impact he was hoping for, winning just one game in the last four, and he really needs to start moving things around if he is to last. A win against Athletic Bilbao here on Sunday will go some ways to giving him some credit, but I doubt whether the fans will be that over the moon.
For their part, Athletic Bilbao are having a grey season to say the least. They are one of those teams that largely go unnoticed, and more so this term. They are currently sitting in twelfth spot after winning just three games from thirteen, drawing five and losing the others. They are two points above the relegation zone and as always are candidates to go down, although in all the history of Spanish football they are one of just three who haven’t.
In the team news, Miguel Angel Angulo will get to play his three hundredth game for Valencia if he proves his fitness after missing the Champions league game owing to muscle strain. As for Bilbao, they will miss Aitor Ocio, who is suspended, and Fran Yeste is also doubtful.
I’m going for a draw here. Valencia can’t seem to do anything right at the moment, while Athletic haven’t won at the Mestalla stadium in over twenty years. That statistic looks set to be repeated once again, at least for this season.
Prediction: Draw (1-1)

Related posts:

1. La Liga: Sevilla vs. Athletic Bilbao
2. La Liga: Athletico Madrid vs. Athletic Bilbao
3. La Liga: Athletic Bilbao vs. Levante
4. La Liga: Zaragoza vs. Athletic Bilbao
5. La Liga: Athletic Bilbao vs. Valladolid

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