Athletic Bilbao vs Osasuna Prediction: Two’s up for hosts in pursuit of top-four place

Athletic Club stepped up their pursuit of a top-four finish with a 2-0 victory over Getafe last Friday, but there are now just four games remaining for them to cut a gap of six points between them and Atletico Madrid, who occupy the final Champions League berth.

Next up for Ernesto Valverde's side is a home game against Osasuna, who cannot qualify for Europe nor be relegated. Read below for my Athletic Bilbao vs Osasuna prediction ahead of this Saturday night contest at San Mames, which kicks off at 20:00 and can be watched live in the UK on Premier Sports 2.

Copa del Rey winners Athletic picked up just a single point from three league games after lifting a long-awaited trophy at the start of April, but they returned to form at the Coliseum last week through an Inaki Williams brace, both goals supplied by his younger brother, Nico.

A place in the Europa League looks pretty secure with Real Sociedad seven points behind in fifth and Real Betis two points further back in sixth, but while there is still a chance of attaining Champions League football next season, they must do everything in their power to achieve it, and that probably means winning their remaining four fixtures, starting on Saturday.

There is much less to play for over at Osasuna, and that's evident from the fact that they have lost six of their last seven games, only managing to beat bottom club Almeria in that time.

The reverse fixture between these sides in Pamplona saw Athletic win 2-0 courtesy of goals from Inaki Williams and Gorka Guruzeta, but the corresponding head-to-head last season saw Osasuna claim a point in a goalless draw.

Team News

Yeray Alvarez and Aitor Paredes both received red cards in Madrid last week and are banned for Saturday's game, while Oihan Sancet, Inigo Ruiz de Galarreta, Dani Vivian, Yuri Berchiche and Guruzeta all miss out through injury.

The visitors have suspension and injury worries themselves; Jon Moncayola was dismissed in last Sunday's 2-0 defeat to Betis and is suspended for this weekend's trip to Bilbao, while Kike Barja, Ante Budimir, David Garcia, Moi Gomez and Unai Garcia are all suffering injury issues.

Athletic Bilbao vs Osasuna Odds

*Please click on the link above to be taken to the main Athletic Bilbao vs Osasuna page on betfred.com (or app) for all the live betting prices on this match.

The hosts are 4/9 to claim all three points on Saturday, giving them an implied win probability of 69.2%, while Osasuna are 7/1, or a 12.5% chance.

The draw is 100/30, both teams to score is 11/10, and over 3.5 goals is 9/4.

Athletic Bilbao to win to nil @ 23/20

Athletic have the second-best defensive record in La Liga this season, conceding just 33 times in 34 games so far - only Real Madrid (22) have been breached on fewer occasions.

After beating Alaves 2-0 on March 16, Athletic endured a five-match spell without keeping a clean sheet, but they broke out of that run against Getafe last week.

Valverde's side have kept 16 clean sheets in the league this season, half (eight) coming at San Mames, and they managed to shut out the Osasuna attack when they met at the Estadio El Sadar in August.

They should be confident of doing so again this weekend with Los Rojillos failing to find the net in three of their last four games, and four of their last seven.

The absence of 16-goal top scorer Budimir continues to hurt Osasuna, who have struck just once in three games since his injury - the Croatian had found the net in three of his last five matches before sustaining a hit to his ribs.

Correct score - Athletic Bilbao 2-0 @ 11/2

If we're backing the hosts to nil, let's try and nail down a correct scoreline, shall we?

This has been a familiar, and favourite, scoreline for Athletic this season, who have won 2-0 on seven separate occasions in La Liga this term, with their last three victories coming via that scoreline.

Osasunsa, meanwhile, have been beaten by two goals to nil four times already this season, including in August's reverse fixture with Saturday's opponents.

Athletic won 2-0 last week, two days before Osasuna suffered a 2-0 reverse against Betis - I'm backing more joy for the former this weekend, and more pain for the latter.

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