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Athletic Bilbao 2-2 Atlético Madrid
Despite a slow start, Athletic recovered well against Atlético and if it wasn’t for a piece of Antoine Griezmann magic, the Basque side would have gained a valuable three points. Athletic’s league form has faltered since the start of the new year as they’ve drawn to newly promoted sides Leganés and Alavés and these are matches where they were expected to win. It appears that they still haven’t recovered from losing to Barcelona in the Copa del Rey, but sooner or later results will surely come.
Real Betis 0-0 Sporting Gijón
New manager Rubi watched his Sporting side collect their first point of 2017 after a stalemate away at Real Betis. It was only the second time in the entire campaign where Sporting had taken something away from home and in fact, the last time Sporting won on the road was at the Mestalla with a 1-0 victory against Valencia on the 31st January 2016. If they are to have any chance of staying up, points on the road are essential.
Ernesto Valverde is most likely to stick to his 4-2-3-1 formation for this game and Aduriz looks set to feature as he missed out of last week's draw against Atlético. He'll be looking for youngsters Williams and Muniain to provide pace on the flanks to assist the veteran striker. There's no new injury concerns or suspensions so it will be more or less the first XI from last week.
New manager Rubi was satisfied with a point last week and he's unlikely to change a formation that held strong and kept a rare clean sheet away from home. Given the quality of the opposition, it wouldn't surprise anyone if he opted to play five at the back, but he's still more likely to go with the one striker and even though he chose Duje Cop to lead the line last weekend, he might look to youngster Carlos Castro as he could provide some pace on the counter attack.
KEYS TO THE GAME
Athletic formidable at home
Ernesto Valverde’s men have been outstanding at the San Mamés this season. The last time Athletic lost on home soil was back in August when Barcelona were the first visitors of the campaign and came away with a 1-0 win. Although they have drawn the last two at home, the performance against Barcelona in the Copa del Rey Round of 16 first leg showed everyone what they are capable of and with the fans acting as the 12th man, Bilbao are not to be taken lightly at their stadium.
Sporting need more clean sheets
It was not only a rare sight seeing Sporting pick up a point away from home, it was even more surprising that they had managed to keep a clean sheet in the league. Sporting have only kept two clean sheets this league season and the last one came away at Granada in October. New manager Rubi mentioned the need to keep clean sheets in his post match press conference as he mentioned he left the last match against Betis satisfied as the objective was to be more defensive than offensive.
Athletic lack firepower
This season has seen Athletic become even more reliant on striker Aritz Aduriz to produce the goods up front. Although they are in 7th position, they are the team with the fewest goals in the top ten with only 24 goals to their name. More goals would’ve seen them convert their new year draws into wins and could have seen them closer to the Champions League positions. Valverde needs more from youngsters Iñaki Williams and especially Iker Muniain who’s only contributed two league goals and one assist this season.
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