Athletic Bilbao vs. Sevilla 10/31/20 LaLiga Soccer Pick, Odds, and Prediction

Athletic Bilbao is welcoming Sevilla to San Mames in round 8 in the Spanish LaLiga.

Athletic has been hot and cold this season, well, more cold than hot. Bilbao is in 16th place in LaLiga with only 6 points, 2 wins, 4 losses, and only 4 scored goals so far. In their latest LaLiga match against Osasuna on the road, Bilbao has had 61% of ball possession, 5 shots on goal, 5 corner kicks, 0 big chances created, and 76% off the correct passes. Bilbao was defending well, and they have created a few good chances, but Bilbao wasn’t able to score a goal, and they conceded a goal in the 81st minute from the penalty spot. Athletic Bilbao has lost this game 1-0. Lopez has scored 2 goals for Bilbao so far this season, while Berenguer and Williams added 1 goal each. Williams, Garcia, Capa, and Morcillo each added 1 assist. Kodro is the only injured player for Bilbao, while Gomez, Nolaskoain, and De Marcos are still questionable for this game. Athletic is a good team, and I can’t believe how inconsistent they are. Sure, Athletic doesn’t have the quality to end the season in the top 4 in LaLiga, but they are certainly good enough to compete for the Europa League.

After 4 games without a win, Sevilla has finally beaten somebody. Sevilla was playing in the Champions League against Rennais earlier this week, and they have won that game 1-0. Sevilla was the dominant team in that game, and they absolutely deserved this win. In LaLiga, Sevilla is still warming up, and they have 2 games less than most of the other teams. Sevilla is in 13th place with 7 points, 5 scored goals, and 4 conceded goals. Sevilla is struggling in the attacking end this season, and they have scored only 5 goals so far. De Jong is the leading goalscorer for Sevilla with 2 goals, while Rakitic, El Haddadi, and En-Nesyri added 1 goal each. Navas has added 2 assists. There are no injuries in Sevilla at this time, but Idrissi is still questionable for this game. Sevilla was hosting Eibar in their last LaLiga game, and they were the better team with 71% of ball possession in that game, 3 shots on goal, 13 corner kicks, 2 big chances created, and a solid 86% of the correct passes. Despite being a much better team in this game, Sevilla has conceded a goal in the 41st minute, and they ended up losing this match 0-1. It’s clear that Sevilla is a good team, and they can paly fantastic soccer, but the lack of offense could keep Sevilla from making an impact on either of the competitions they are playing in. of course, it’s still early in the season, and I believe Sevilla will start scoring more goals, but they need to do it sooner rather than later.

The trends in this matchup are on Sevilla’s side, but since they have been playing in the Champions League earlier this week, and they are playing next week as well, I wouldn’t lay money on them. Athletic Bilbao is not playing well, and for that reason, I will side with a draw here.