Athletic Club vs Girona Prediction: Sancet to strike again

Athletic Club made a superb start to the 2025/26 La Liga season, winning their first three games, but have now lost their last two. The Lions have a great opportunity to get back to winning ways on Tuesday (18:00 BST, Premier Sports Player), though, as they host bottom-of-the-table Girona, who have lost four of their opening five matches, at the Estadio San Mames.

Below are my Athletic Club vs Girona predictions, supported by all the latest team news and match odds.

Team News

Mexican goalkeeper Alex Padilla will complete his three-match suspension on Tuesday and will be free to return for Athletic Club's Saturday trip to Villarreal, but Dani Vivian will begin his own three-game ban following his straight red in Saturday's 2-0 defeat to Valencia.

Unai Egiluz and Benat (both knee) are both out injured, while Yeray Alvarez is serving a 10-month doping suspension.

Nico Williams, who has missed his side's last three games with a muscle problem, is doubtful.

Aymeric Laporte, who earlier this month returned to the club he left in 2018, is likely to replace Vivian in defence after appearing as a 64th-minute substitute on Saturday.

Maroan Sannadi, Mikel Vesga and Unai Gomez will also be eyeing promotions to the starting XI.

Football Odds

Girona pair Vitor Reis and Axel Witsel were both sent off in Saturday's 4-0 home defeat to Levante, so head coach Michel must make at least two changes to his starting XI.

Alejandro Frances and Jhon Solis could replace Reis and Witsel, respectively, while Dominik Livakovic could be in contention for his Girona debut after Paulo Gazzaniga shipped four goals on the weekend.

Ricard Artero (ankle), Juan Carlos (knee), Thomas Lemar (foot), David Lopez and Viktor Tsygankov (both muscle) all look likely to miss out again due to injury.

Today's Football Fixtures

Athletic Club vs Girona Odds

Athletic won last season's corresponding fixture 3-0 in February, thanks to an Oihan Sancet hat-trick. The Lions are 4/9 to triumph on home soil again, implying a 69.2% probability of success, while a repeat of that scoreline is priced at 17/2. Girona, meanwhile, are 7/1, or a 12.5% chance, to secure their first three points of the 2025/26 campaign, with the draw available at 10/3.

Sancet is 6/4 to score anytime, 9/2 to open the scoring, and 40/1 to net three or more.

Anytime Goalscorer - Oihan Sancet (ATH) @ 6/4

Sancet scored a career-best 15 La Liga goals last season, five more than his previous best set in 2022/23.

Four of the Spaniard's 15 league strikes in 2024/25 came against Athletic's next opponents, Girona, who conceded a hat-trick to him at the San Mames in February; earlier in the campaign, in October, Sancet got on the scoresheet in a 2-1 win for Girona at the Estadio Municipal de Montilivi.

The 25-year-old is already off the mark this term, scoring the only goal of the game from the penalty spot as a second-half substitute in a 1-0 victory over Rayo Vallecano in Bilbao on August 25.

Sancet hasn't been able to add to his tally since, but he saw two of his four shots on Saturday saved by Valencia goalkeeper Julen Agirrezabala, so he looks to be getting closer to finding the net again.

Against a side he enjoyed so much success against last season, Sancet looks a decent bet to score on Tuesday at 6/4, particularly with Girona averaging three goals conceded per game.

Bet Builder - Alex Berenguer (ATH) 1+ Shots on Target, Vladyslav Vanat (GIR) 1+ Shots on Target @ 23/10

Alex Berenguer, who struck six La Liga goals in 2024/25, is yet to score for Athletic this season, but he's registered a shot on target in two of his last three league appearances.

The 30-year-old averaged 0.5 shots on target per game last term, and saw an effort saved in his side's 2-1 defeat in Girona last October.

Whether he can get off the mark on Tuesday remains to be seen, but with Nico Williams likely to be out, he should keep his starting spot, and looks like a decent bet to at least work Girona's goalkeeper.

I'm also adding in a shot on target for Girona striker Vladyslav Vanat, who joined earlier this month from Ukrainian side Dynamo Kyiv.

The 23-year-old made a goalscoring start to life in Spain, opening the scoring in Girona's 1-1 draw with Celta Vigo, and forced a save with his second and final shot of that match.

Vanat was unable to impact the game against Levante on the weekend, but his performance was heavily affected by his team going down to 10, and then nine, men, with the Ukrainian then substituted in the 53rd minute.

Against Athletic, who haven't kept a clean sheet in their last four games across all competitions, the Girona forward will fancy his chances of at least testing Unai Simon in the home side's goal.

Offers

Acca Flex: Place a pre-match 5+ leg Football accumulator and get a CASH bonus up to 100% if all of your selections win or your money back as CASH if one leg lets you down