Following a weekend of Copa del Rey action, Spanish clubs get back to their bread and butter, and the La Liga season continues with an intriguing matchweek, which includes the big Basque derby between Athletic Club and Real Sociedad.
Will we see a fifth consecutive home win in this fixture? Bookmaker 10bet offers odds at 2.10 for Athletic to triumph on Saturday. Meanwhile, the odds are at 3.80 for a Sociedad win and 3.40 for a draw.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: January 12th, 3:00 P.M. (EST)
The first derby of the season ended with a 3-0 victory for Sociedad in September. Athletic also lost to Barcelona soon after, but these have been two of just three losses the team has suffered this season. A 38-point haul across 19 matches has catapulted Athletic into a battle for a top-four finish.
Sociedad has 32 points on the board following a run of four draws in five matches. The team has found it difficult to put teams away, but manager Imanol Alguacil must be delighted with the side’s defensive performances. Both Basque teams have conceded only 19 times so far, with Athletic leading the league with nine clean sheets and Sociedad coming right behind with eight.
With all the quality at the back, these two could easily cancel each other out, but the Basque derby has featured at least two goals in six straight games, and the scoring average across the past four league meetings has been at 3.25 goals per game.
Athletic has relied mostly on Inaki Williams for scoring, and he has netted at least once in three of the last four home derbies for the team, but the Lions will need to find a new hero this time around. Williams has joined Ghana for the Africa Cup of Nations and won’t play on Saturday.
Sociedad has lost three players to AFCON and will be missing a vital piece at the back, as goalkeeper Alex Remiro is ineligible for the game after receiving a red card in the last La Liga round. While Athletic’s Unai Simon leads the league in clean sheets, Remiro is among La Liga’s top goalkeepers in save percentage, having stopped 78.7 percent of shots he has faced.
With key midfielder Martin Zubimendi also in doubt, it promises to be a very challenging match for Sociedad. However, the team has suffered only three league losses through the season and definitely won’t go down without a fight.
