Cadiz will be looking to make it back-to-back wins in La Liga when they welcome Athletic Bilbao to Nuevo Mirandilla on Thursday night.
The home side, who are now 16th in the table, will enter the contest off the back of a 1-0 victory over Barcelona on Monday, while Athletic suffered a 2-0 defeat to Celta Vigo on Sunday.
Match preview
© Reuters
Cadiz were in the relegation zone heading into Monday's clash with Barcelona, and it seemed an almost impossible task for the club to secure a positive result at Camp Nou, but they managed to secure all three points courtesy of a 1-0 win, with Lucas Perez scoring the only goal of the match early in the second period.
The Yellow Submarine moved from 18th to 16th courtesy of their one-goal success, and they are now two points clear of 18th-placed Mallorca on the same number of matches (32).
Cadiz are still firmly in a relegation battle, and their fixture list between now and the end of the season is very tough, taking on Sevilla, Real Sociedad and Real Madrid in three of their next four, while they will finish their campaign away to Alaves, who are currently bottom of the table.
Sergio Gonzalez's side have the worst home record in La Liga this season, picking up just 14 points from their 16 matches, but they will be welcoming an Athletic side that have won just three times on their travels this term.
Cadiz have been victorious in two of their last three La Liga matches against Athletic, meanwhile, including a 1-0 win earlier this season, so they will be bidding to make it a league double over the Basque outfit.
© Reuters
Athletic will enter this match off the back of a disappointing result, suffering a 2-0 home defeat to Celta Vigo on Sunday, with Iago Aspas and Fran Beltran on the scoresheet for the visitors.
Marcelino's side are currently eighth in the table, four points behind seventh-placed Villarreal, while they are only a point clear of ninth-placed Osasuna, so a lot could change over the next few weeks.
After a trip to Cadiz, Athletic have back-to-back home matches against Atletico Madrid and Valencia, before facing Granada, Osasuna and Sevilla in their final three league games of the campaign.
The Lions finished 10th in Spain's top flight last term and have not been higher than eighth since 2017, so it would certainly be seen as a solid campaign if they could finish seventh, but they will be unable to catch the top six due to the size of the gap and amount of games left.
Athletic, as mentioned, have only won three away matches in the league this season but have suffered just four defeats, sharing the points on nine occasions on their travels.
- W
- L
- W
- D
- L
- W
- W
- L
- D
- W
- D
- L
Team News
© Reuters
Cadiz will again be without the services of Florin Andone, Varazdat Haroyan and Isaac Carcelen through injury, but they will be boosted by the return of Ruben Alcaraz from suspension.
Head coach Sergio could decide to keep faith with the same team that took to the field for the first whistle against Barcelona, though, with Lucas Perez featuring at the tip of the attack.
Salvi Sanchez and Ruben Sobrino started in the wide areas at Camp Nou and that is again expected to be the case on Thursday evening, with Jose Mari featuring in central midfield alongside Jens Jonsson.
As for Athletic, Inigo Lekue remains on the sidelines through injury, while Inigo Martinez is also a doubt, so it could be the same back four from the defeat to Celta.
There will also be no Asier Villalibre, with the forward picking up a groin problem against the Sky Blues, which could potentially rule him out for the next couple of weeks.
There are still expected to be changes from the side that started last time out, though, with Raul Garcia and Oier Zarraga pushing for positions in the starting XI.
Cadiz possible starting lineup:
Ledesma; Parra, Hernandez, Fali, Espino; Mari, Jonsson; Sobrino, Alex, Salvi; Perez
Athletic Bilbao possible starting lineup:
Simon; Petxarroman, Vivian, Yeray, Yuri; Berenguer, Vesga, Zarraga, Muniain; I Williams, R Garcia
We say: Cadiz 1-1 Athletic Bilbao
Cadiz's win over Barcelona would have done so much for their confidence, and they will fancy their chances of causing Athletic problems on Thursday. The Basque outfit do not often lose on their travels, but they have not won too many either, so we have had to settle on a low-scoring draw here.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Athletic Bilbao win with a probability of 42.01%. A win for Cadiz had a probability of 29.72% and a draw had a probability of 28.3%.
The most likely scoreline for an Athletic Bilbao win was 0-1 with a probability of 12.97%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.29%) and 0-2 (8.18%). The likeliest Cadiz win was 1-0 (10.41%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.14%). The actual scoreline of 2-3 was predicted with a 1.8% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Athletic Bilbao would win this match.
