Real Madrid vs Athletic Bilbao

La Liga leaders Real Madrid will be gunning for a fifth straight La Liga victory for the first time this season when they meet Athletic Bilbao at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu.

A come-from-behind 2-1 home win over Sevilla at the weekend extended Real Madrid’s winning La Liga streak to four matches, increasing their lead at the summit to four points. ‘Los Blancos’ have now registered their joint-best 14-game start to a new La Liga season since 2016/16, which is a good omen, as they went on to lift the crown that season. Bilbao’s visit to the capital could serve as another tasty-looking opportunity to build momentum, with ‘Los Merengues’ going unbeaten in their last 12 top-flight H2Hs on home turf (W8, D4). What’s more, Carlo Ancelotti’s men have yet to lose a single La Liga home game this season (W4, D2), netting a league-highest average of 2.5 goals per game in the process. Topically, only Valencia (9) have scored more La Liga second-half goals at home than Madrid (8) so far this term.

In the meantime, Athletic Bilbao head into proceedings on the back of successive La Liga draws, which ties in well with their reputation as the ‘stalemate specialists.’ Indeed, the Basque giants have drawn 57% of their La Liga matches this season (8/14), more than any other side in Spain’s top-flight. Like that’s not enough, six of their seven away La Liga games this term have ended level (W1), including the last five in a row. Low scoring has been a common theme across those fixtures, with all seven featuring under 2.5 match goals, a measly average of 1.0 per game. In fact, none of Bilbao’s seven La Liga travels this season have seen at least one side score more than once. After drawing a blank in two of their last three top-flight visits to Real Madrid (D1, L2), ‘Los Leones’ look unlikely to net over 1.5 goals in an away La Liga match for the first time since mid-February.