La Liga 2018/19: Athletic Bilbao vs Real Madrid prediction

TheSportsRush brings Athletic Bilbao vs Real Madrid prediction, as Real Madrid aims to maintain their 100 per-cent record in the campaign.

The La Liga action returns this Saturday after a week of international break, where Real Madrid will visit San Memes to take on Athletic Bilbao. Real Madrid have a perfect record in the new season so far, winning their first three games against Girona, Getafe and Leganes.

However, Bilbao away could be an immensely difficult fixture for the European champions. In their previous visit to San Memes, Real Madrid failed to penetrate a tightly-knit Bilbao defence, as the game ended in a goalless draw.

The odds are still in favour of Real Madrid to come out with three points, though.

Real Madrid are on a faultless run of form after a setback at the UEFA Super Cup against city rivals Atletico Madrid. They’ve scored 10 goals in three games so far, with Benzema being the joint-top scorer alongside Barcelona’s Lionel Messi with four goals. Gareth Bale has also scored thrice in the campaign so far.

Bilbao, on the other hand, were also undefeated in their first two games before their fixture against Rayo Vallecano was postponed due to security concerns. Athletic Bilbao cruised to victory in their league opener against Legances, but dropped points to newly-promoted Huesca in a 2-2 draw.

Prediction:

The match between Real Madrid and Athletic Bilbao is expected to be a tight-affair, as the hosts may apply similar tactics to Real’s previous visit. Eduardo Berizzo’s side is likely to exercise more caution in their gameplay, especially considering the form Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale are in at the moment.

Also read: La Liga 2018/19: Real Madrid’s expected lineup vs Athletic Bilbao

Justifiable, the difference between odds on a draw and Athletic Bilbao’s win isn’t significantly large. Skybet have 10/3 odds on both sides sharing a point, while 4/1 on host’s victory. Marathon Bet has the highest odds on a draw with 15/4.

bet365 has 8/15 odds on Real Madrid’s victory, while BetStars has 6/10 odds on the same. Skybet has kept the odds on Real Madrid’s win at 3/5.