There will be lot at stake when the two sides meet at San Mames on Saturday afternoon, seeing that together with few other sides Athletic Bilbao and Espanyol are direct rivals for the top 4 finish. Espanyol narrowly won the first match between the two teams this season and I have no doubts we will see another very tight game.

Modern day gladiators

Athletic Bilbao have been absolutely brilliant this season and the fact that los Leones are going strong on all fronts despite possessing a very small squad speaks for itself. Every other coach would be deploying a rotation policy when his side are in three very strong competitions, but not Marcelo Bielsa. The coach’s decision to field his strongest line-up in almost every single game this season has helped Bilbao impress in Europa League, La Liga and Copa del Rey, but the logical question is how much more can the team play at this level. Athletic have been playing two games a week from the very start of 2012 and they could now find it hard to give their best against rock-solid Espanyol. The players are clearly tired after playing so many games in quick succession and even though they will give their best to beat their top 4 rivals, I’m not sure they will have it in them to score more than one goal against defence-minded visitors, especially as the game will be played on frozen and snow-covered pitch.

Inigo Perez should be fit to play despite suffering an ankle injury in training, but Carlos Gurpegui and Igor Martinez are long-term casualties.

Shrewd transfer dealings in January

As the injury crisis threatened to hurt Espanyol’s Champions Legaue qualification bid, the club chiefs decided to act and signed no less than three new players during the last few days of the January transfer window. Nigerian striker Kalu Uche arrived to compensate for the absence of star striker Sergio Garcia, whereas Victor Sanchez Mata and Philippe Coutinho arrived to add more quality to the midfield department. Because of the aforementioned injury crisis, the new players will not have a lot of time to adapt to the new surroundings as they could be called into action as early as this game. Being two points clear of Athletic and aware that their performances on the travels are not nearly as good as those at Cornella El Prat, Espanyol will give their best not to lose this game and they are set to adopt a very defensive approach. Such tactics has produced pretty good results of late, with goalless draws in Santander and Seville as well as narrow win over Sporting Gijon seen as very good results for Espanyol’s standards.

Important attacking players Sergio Garcia, Alvaro Vazquez and Cristian Gomez are all sidelined through injury.

Verdict

Athletic enter this game hoping to continue the impressive run of results, but the freezing weather conditions and tired legs are likely to prevent the hosts from giving their best. Espanyol seem to have found a cure for their travel sickness as their defence-minded tactics is producing excellent results, so I really expect to see a tight game with chances few and far between.

Our prediction: Under 2.5 goals

Odds: 1.73 (8/11)

Bookmaker: BetVictor