Athletic Bilbao will be bidding to make it three La Liga victories in a row when they travel to a struggling Mallorca outfit on Monday night.
The Basque outfit are currently eighth in the table, four points behind fourth-placed Barcelona, while Mallorca occupy 17th position, five points clear of 18th-placed Cadiz in the battle to avoid relegation.
Match preview
© Reuters
Mallorca will enter Monday's contest off the back of a 2-1 win over Cadiz on February 5, with penalties from Salva Sevilla and Vedat Muriqi securing a huge victory in the relegation six-pointer.
Luis Garcia's side remain 17th in the table, though, only five points clear of the bottom three, so they are far from in a comfortable position heading into a vital stage of the campaign.
Mallorca secured a return to this level by finishing second in the Segunda Division last season, and their number one priority this term was always going to be consolidating in La Liga, but they did manage to reach the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey before losing to Rayo Vallecano earlier this month.
The Pirates have only lost two of their 11 home league games this season, meanwhile, and should be in good confidence heading into the contest considering their win over Cadiz last time out.
Mallorca have not actually beaten Athletic in La Liga since February 2011, though, and suffered a 2-0 defeat when they travelled to San Mames for the reverse match back in September.
© Reuters
Athletic, meanwhile, will bring a five-game unbeaten run into this contest, while they have not lost in Spain's top flight since December 22, picking up 10 points from the last 12 available.
The Basque outfit have won their last two in the league against Rayo Vallecano and Espanyol to move onto 34 points, which has left them in eighth spot in the table, just four points behind fourth-placed Barcelona.
Athletic were also in Copa del Rey action on Thursday night, drawing 1-1 with Valencia in the first leg of their semi-final, with Raul Garcia on the scoresheet for the home side at San Mames.
Marcelino's side, who finished 10th in Spain's top flight last term, are not in Europe this season, so their focus is on La Liga and the Copa del Rey in the final months of the season, facing Real Sociedad and Barcelona in the league in their next two before travelling to Valencia in the Copa del Rey on March 2.
Athletic's away form this season has been impressive, meanwhile, losing just one of their 12 matches, collecting 17 points in the process, which is the fourth-best record in the division.
- D
- L
- L
- L
- L
- W
- W
- L
- W
- L
- L
- W
- W
- L
- W
- D
- W
- W
- L
- W
- W
- W
- W
- D
Team News
© Reuters
Mallorca will be without the services of Dominik Greif and Iddrisu Baba through injury, while Amath Ndiaye will miss the contest through suspension.
Head coach Garcia could select the same side that took to the field for the first whistle against Cadiz last time out, with Muriqi being joined in the final third of the field by Angel.
Antonio Sanchez and Abdon Prats are options for change, but Sevilla should retain his spot in midfield, while Dani Rodriguez and Takefusa Kubo are expected to feature in the wide areas.
As for Athletic, Nico Williams will miss the match through injury, while Unai Vencedor remains a fitness doubt due to a hamstring problem.
The visitors will also be without Inigo Martinez, who picked up a late yellow card against Espanyol in the league last time out, so Yeray Alvarez could come into the back four.
Oscar de Marcos, who has recovered from COVID-19, is pushing to come into the side at right-back, but Inigo Lekue should keep his spot, while Iker Muniain and Inaki Williams are both expected to feature in the final third of the field.
Mallorca possible starting lineup:
Rico; Maffeo, Raillo, Valjent, Olivan; Kubo, Sevilla, Galarreta, D Rodriguez; Angel, Muriqi
Athletic Bilbao possible starting lineup:
Simon; Lekue, Vivian, Alvarez, Berchiche; Berenguer, Zarraga, D Garcia, Muniain; I Williams, Sancet
We say: Mallorca 2-2 Athletic Bilbao
Athletic have been the draw specialists on their travels in La Liga this season, sharing the points in eight of their 12 matches, while Mallorca have lost just twice in front of their own supporters this term. As a result, despite Athletic's excellent form, we are backing the two sides to play out an entertaining draw here.
Matt Law
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 36.33%. A win for Mallorca had a probability of 32.52% and a draw had a probability of 31.1%.
The most likely scoreline for an Athletic Bilbao win was 0-1 with a probability of 14.27%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (7.27%) and 1-2 (6.88%). The likeliest Mallorca win was 1-0 (13.26%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 0-0 (14%). The actual scoreline of 3-2 was predicted with a 1% likelihood.
