Sevilla vs Athletic Bilbao

Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan plays host to a tasty-looking La Liga encounter between Sevilla and Athletic Bilbao.

Though this fixture counts for little in Sevilla’s eyes, Julen Lopetegui’s side will be keen to finish another decent domestic season on a high and snap a run of four consecutive La Liga draws. ‘Los Rojiblancos’ have booked their place in next season’s Champions League with a game to spare, though they could still pip Atletico Madrid to a third-place finish. In order to achieve that feat, Sevilla will have to build on their eye-catching nine-game home La Liga record against Athletic Bilbao (W6, D2, L1). However, Lopetegui’s lads have failed to win any of their last three La Liga home outings (D2, L1), their longest winless home run in the competition under his stewardship. Sevilla are the ‘stalemate specialists,’ having drawn a league-high 16 La Liga matches this term.

On the other hand, Athletic Bilbao pulled off an all-important 2-0 home triumph over Osasuna last time out to end a run of successive La Liga games without winning (D1, L1) and maintain a one-point distance of seventh-placed Villarreal. With Villarreal heading to Barcelona on the final day, ‘Los Leones’ remain firmly in contention for Europa Conference League qualification. But it requires them to avenge an underwhelming 1-0 home defeat in the reverse fixture and Barcelona to beat Unai Emery’s side at Camp Nou. There’s still hope for Bilbao, even though they’ve suffered four losses in their last six La Liga matches away from home (W1, D1), failing to find the back of the net in three of them.