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Barcelona vs Athletic Bilbao Prediction: La Liga Match on 31.01.2021

It’s the final day of the month and there are lots to excite lovers of live football with games of note played across the major leagues in Europe. In this article, our team of football pundits shine the spotlight on La Liga in Spain where title hopefuls Barcelona take on Athletic Bilbao from 20:00 GMT, a game you can follow live on TV.

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The stats sheet show these teams have met 72 times in the past with Barcelona dominating over the years, as you’d expect. The current head-to-head stats have Barca currently on 44 wins with Athletic Bilbao on 13 wins and 15 games ending in a draw. The most recent clash produced a rather surprising scoreline, Bilbao grabbing a stunning 3-2 win in the Spanish Super Cup.

Barca on a winning run

Barca opened the week placed third in La Liga with their form for the campaign so far showing 11 wins and four draws against four defeats. The locals have found the net 39 times already, making them the competitions highest scorers at this stage but they have Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid just a few goals behind. At the opposite end of the field, we see Barca have conceded 17 goals.

They set-up with confidence having put together a strong run of form this month. Barcelona are on an unbeaten run, following a draw with four wins on the bounce. They continued their revival with an impressive 2-0 victory away to Elche last Sunday with the goals scored by de Jong and Puig, the latter coming in the final minute of play.

Bilbao sitting in midtable

Athletic Bilbao weren’t picked out by too many in the know to challenge for the major places this season and they haven’t really disappointed on that front. They started the week sitting down in 13^th place with their stats showing six wins and three draws against nine defeats, scoring 21 goals but conceding 22 in the process. A midtable finish looks to be the best fans of the club can hope for.

Bilbao’s recent form is that you would expect from a midtable La Liga side with two wins, two defeats and a draw making up their last five. One win stands between two defeats and the away team lost at home to Barcelona earlier this month, going down by a 3-2 score. Since then they’ve had a game against Atletico Madrid postponed due to the weather and beat Ibiza 2-1 in the Copa del Rey when a landslide victory was expected.

Barcelona vs Athletic Bilbao prediction

The home team are strong favourites for the win, but they haven’t been anywhere near their best so far. Barca enjoy the home advantage and show the better recent form but if they take their eyes off the ball here and don’t give Bilbao the respect, they deserve they could be made to pay a hefty price.