Sevilla (16-12-6) at Athletic Bilbao (12-12-10)
La Liga Soccer: Thursday July 9, 2020 at 4:00 PM (Estadio San Mames)
The Line: Athletic Bilbao +215 / Draw +210 / Sevilla +150 -- O/U: 2 Click Here for the Latest Odds
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Athletic Bilbao and Sevilla square off in La Liga soccer action from the Estadio San Mames on Thursday afternoon.
Athletic Bilbao come into this match in 9th place on 48 points with a record of 12 wins, 12 draws and 10 losses after a 1-0 loss to Real Madrid in their last match. In the loss to Real Madrid, the game was scoreless with just a single booking at the half for Bilbao and the second half saw more of the same but Madrid would break the deadlock in the 73rd minute and despite their best efforts, Bilbao wouldn’t be able to get a shot on goal in the second half, holding them scoreless at full time as Madrid picked up the win. Raul Garcia leads Bilbao in scoring with 13 goals while Ander Capa, Inigo Cordoba and Unai Lopez each have 4 assists this season. Unai Simon leads Bilbao in goal, conceding 0.81 goals per 90 minutes with 12 clean sheets in 31 league appearances this season.
Sevilla on the other hand come into this game in 4th on 60 points with a record of 16 wins, 12 draws and 6 losses following a 1-0 win over Eibar in their last match. In the win over Eibar, the game was scoreless at halftime but Sevilla would break the tie in the 56th minute off of the boot of Lucas Ocampos and that ended up being all Sevilla would need the rest of the way as Eibar wouldn’t find an equalizer the rest of the way. Ocampos leads Sevilla in the goal-scoring department with 13 goals this year while Jesus Navas has a team-high 7 assists and Ever Banega has 6 assists for Sevilla this season. Tomas Vaclik is Sevilla’s top goalkeeper, conceding 0.92 goals per 90 minutes with 14 clean sheets in 33 league appearances this season.
I’ve gone back and forth on this game as Bilbao needs to accrue as many points as possible to make a last gasp push for a Europa league spot, while Sevilla need points to maintain their positioning in the top-4. Either way, I’m having a hard time separating the two sides and I think both sides would settle for a point in this one. I’ll side with the draw as my main bet for this match and I’ll sprinkle a bit on the correct score of 1-1 for sizeable plus money.
Chris’s Pick Draw +210 / 1-1 Correct Score +500
AUTHOR: Chris Ruffolo
Follow Chris Ruffolo on Twitter @ruffthepickdawg