Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao meet in a match of La Liga’s 22nd round. Confrontation will be played on 15:15 on Saturday, Estadio Anoeta.
In the eighth round of this season, Sociedad put a 3-1 lead in Estadio San Mames, scored by Mikel Oyarzabal (30 ‘- penalty, 74’ – penalty) and Luca Sangalli (47 ‘ ), while the hosts scored Iker Muniain (32 ‘) in a game showing 11 yellow cards.
17 times the two bands in La Liga have met on the Real field and the balance is 8 wins for the hosts, 5 for the guests and 4 draws.
The band prepared by Imanol Alguacil is present at this derby after a series of 5 games played in all competitions in which he recorded no less than 4 draws. Three of them came on their own, the last one being Huesca, the last-ranked La Liga, score 0-0.
Martin Merquelanz, Andoni Gorosabel and Miguel Angel Moya are injured and will not be on the pitch in this confrontation, while Jon Bautista and Aritz Elustondo are uncertain.
If the hosts have 4 draws in the last 5 matches, the Bilbao team has won 3 wins in the last 4 games played in all competitions. The last of them came on their own in front of Betis, score 1-0, the only goal of the game being scored by Iker Muniain, in the 21st minute.
Inigo Lekue and Aritz Aduriz are still injured, while Oscar De Marcos is suspended after the red card received in the last round.
Probable teams:
Real Sociedad: Rulli – Zaldua, Moreno, Llorente, Hernandez – Merino, Illarramendi, Zurutuza – Januzaj, Jose, Oyarzabal;
Athletic Bilbao: Herrerin – Capa, Alvarez, Martinez, Yuri – Garcia, Etxebarria – Gomez, Muniain, Cordoba – Williams;
Imanol Alguacil’s students have used in the last few games to fight extremely balanced duels, which may be the case with Sociedad, given that it is a derby that neither the hosts nor the guests want to lose. We are counting on a tie on the break or at the end, but also on a maximum of two goals scored in the match.
PREDICTION: Both teams to score / NO @ 1.84
