While there were 40 points separating the two sides in the standings last season, top 4 hopefuls Athletic Bilbao and title contenders Real Madrid sit next to each other in the La Liga table, which is enough to suggest we should see a cracking encounter at the New San Mames.

Los Leones have been revived under new boss Ernesto Valverde and with another 17 fixtures to go they look like the main candidates for the final Champions League berth.

Athletic currently sit five points clear in fourth place, and they look a good bet to remain there at odds of 1.80 (4/5).

While they couldn’t match Atletico Madrid in Copa del Rey quarter-finals, suffering two narrow defeats, los Leones have been thoroughly impressive in the league of late.

Athletic not only recorded straight victories over Almeria, Real Valladolid and Osasuna, but they did it in style, scoring no less than 15 goals in the process.

With that in mind, both teams to score bet needs to be considered at 1.44 (4/9) when los Leones face in-form Real Madrid.

While Gaizka Toqeuro and Unai Albizua remain sidelined, boss Ernesto Valverde has no fresh selection problems at the moment.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Iraizoz – Iraola, Gurpegui, Laporte, Balenziaga – Iturraspe, Mikel Rico – Susaeta, Herrera, Muniain – Aduriz.

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Several unexpected slip-ups in the early exchanges did not prove too costly after all as Real managed to revive their title bid of late.

A ten-match winning run saw los Blancos ease off into the Copa del Rey semi-finals, while also closing the gap behind arch rivals Barcelona and Atletico in the league to just one point.

And with the team also keeping eight successive clean sheets, it is perfectly clear Carlo Ancelotti and his men have plenty of reason for optimism ahead of the trip to Basque country.

Real Madrid clearly face a difficult task against in-form Athletic, but there is a reason why they are 1.67 (2/3) favourites to claim maximum points.

With Cristiano Ronaldo having bagged 22 goals in 20 league fixtures, the Portuguese is 3.80 (14/5) to open the scoring at the New San Mames.

Gareth Bale and Daniel Carvajal are both injury doubts, where Sami Khedira is the only player who is definitely ruled out.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Lopez – Arbeloa, Ramos, Pepe, Marcelo – Modric, Alonso – Jese, Di Maria, Ronaldo – Benzema.