Real Sociedad vs Athletic Bilbao Predictions, Betting Tips and Match Previews

This is the biggest derby clash in the Basque Country and there’s still quite a tussle on to finish the season as the region’s top dogs. With four games to go, La Liga’s four Basque clubs are all grouped together from 11th to 14th, with Eibar and Alaves currently sandwiched between these two big guns, who’ve had poor seasons by their standards.

Athletic are largely viewed as the pride of the Basque Country but they are currently the lowest ranked of the quartet. Coach Jose Angel Ziganda has this week accepted responsibility for their poor campaign and it’s hard to see him still being in charge when August rolls around.

There have been moments of promise such as a 1-1 draw at the Bernabeu in their most recent away game. However, that match came in between two desperate home displays as Athletic suffered shock defeats to relegation threatened Deportivo La Coruna and Levante, conceding 3 goals in both matches.

There’s a little bit of added spice to this one given centre-back Íñigo Martínez left Sociedad to join Athletic in January, a bold move to make and he probably won’t get the warmest of welcomes as he returns to San Sebastian here. In truth things have largely improved at the back for La Real since he left, although that has had more to do with the change in coach than anything else.

Since Eusebio left, Sociedad have kept clean sheets in 4 of their 5 games under interim boss Imanol Alguacil. They were surprisingly beaten at Malaga last time out but had won three on the spin prior to that, including an excellent 3-0 home win against Atletico Madrid.

They certainly seem to be the side with much the greater momentum heading into this and they have a few more likely goal threats too so backing Sociedad to Win looks to be the best approach to take in the Full-Time Result market.

They’ve changed their system a little under the new boss and found a way to get at both Juanmi and Willian Jose, their two biggest goal threats on the pitch. Juanmi chipped in with a brace in the Atleti game and his eight league goals this term have come at a rate of one every 162 minutes which is very healthy. He’s a likely starter here and backing Juanmi to score anytime appeals.