Buzz previews Sunday’s La Liga clash between Athletic Bilbao and Celta Vigo, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Athletic Bilbao will be aiming to make it three straight La Liga victories when they welcome Celta Vigo to San Mames on Sunday afternoon.
The Lions are currently fifth in the table, picking up 10 points from their opening six matches of the campaign, while a strong start has seen Celta collect nine points to sit sixth in the division.
Match preview
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Athletic had a slow start to the season, being held at home by Getafe in their campaign opener before suffering a 2-1 defeat to Barcelona, but they managed to record a 1-0 victory over Valencia at the end of August.
A second defeat in three matches followed at home to Atletico Madrid, but the Lions have been victorious in their last two games, winning a five-goal thriller against Las Palmas last weekend before beating Leganes 2-0 on Thursday night courtesy of goals from Dani Vivian and Inaki Williams.
Ernesto Valverde‘s side are currently fifth in the table on 10 points, just one point behind second-placed Atletico and five from Barcelona at the summit.
Athletic finished fifth in La Liga last season to qualify for the league phase of this season’s Europa League, with their opener in the competition set to take place away to Roma next week.
The team’s immediate focus will be on the league, though, as they attempt to return to winning ways against Celta, having suffered a 2-1 defeat when the two teams last locked horns in May.
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Celta have been one of the surprise packages in La Liga this season, picking up nine points from their five matches to sit sixth in the table, one point behind Athletic ahead of this weekend’s contest.
The Sky Blues started their campaign with successive victories over Alaves and Valencia, before losing their next two against Villarreal and Osasuna, but they were back to winning ways last weekend, beating Real Valladolid 3-1, with Borja Iglesias scoring his third league goal of the season.
Claudio Giraldez‘s side actually have the joint-second worst defensive record in the league this term, having conceded 10 times, but they have scored 13, with only Barcelona (17) managing more at this stage.
Celta’s goals have been spread throughout their side this season, but Iago Quotes has come up with two, with the 37-year-old in impressive form in the opening weeks.
The Sky Blues have won their last two home league fixtures with Athletic, but they suffered a 4-3 defeat when the two teams locked horns in the corresponding game during the 2023-24 campaign.
Athletic Bilbao La Liga form:
Celta Vigo La Liga form:
Team News
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Athletic will be without the services of Nico Williams for this weekend’s contest, with the Spain international suffering an ankle problem during the clash with Leganes.
Yeray Alvarez and Unai Simon are also still missing, but aside from Nico Williams, the team did not pick up any further problems against Leganes, so it will be largely the same squad from Thursday’s game.
Inaki Williams is expected to replace his brother in the starting side, while there should also be a return in the number 10 position for Jungle Sancetwith Unai Gomez set to drop down to the bench.
As for Celta, Jailson, Javi Manquillo, Mihailo RisticCarlos Dominguez and Luca de la Torre will miss the match through injury, but Alfon Gonzalez is back following a suspension.
Iglesias has scored three league goals this season and will continue in the final third of the field, with Aspas and Pablo Duran expected to feature in the wide areas for the Sky Blues.
There will have to be a change to the back three, though, with Jailson out with a shoulder problem, which should open the door for Marcos Alonso to feature from the first whistle.
Athletic Bilbao possible starting lineup:
Accredited; Gorosabel, Vivian, Nunez, Yuri; Ruiz de Galarreta, Vesga; I Williams, Sancet, Berenguer; Come on
Celta Vigo possible starting lineup:
Watch out; J Rodriguez, Starfelt, Alonso; Mingueza, Sotelo, Beltran, Alvarez; Aspas, Iglesias, Duran
We say: Athletic Bilbao 2-1 Celta Vigo
Celta have been excellent at home this season, but they have lost their two on their travels. Athletic have only actually won one of their three fixtures at San Mames this term, but we are expecting the Basque outfit to collect all three points this weekend.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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