Steven Perez
Dailysports's expert
Real Valladolid
Athletic Club
On March 17, José Zorrilla (Valladolid) will host the match of the 26th round of the La Liga, in which Valladolid will compete with Athletic. The battle will start at 21:00 CET.
Valladolid
The team is in a curious situation. On the one hand, being a newcomer of the division with rather modest opportunities, it has got very good statistics. As a rule, it is necessary to “break through” a 1.0-point average per game in the Primera in order not to be relegated – speaking about the previous season, for example, 39 points were enough. In this case, Paquetá’s wards do not have any troubles – they replenished their own “piggy bank” in a pretty active and regular way. At the junction of January and February, there were 7 points in 3 rounds, and the spring started with a 2-1 score in the match against Espanyol. But, on the other hand, only Elche seems to be hopeless in this pace, the rest of the clubs are gaining points. By the way, “the Pucelanos” played with “the Green-striped ones” in the previous round. And they were very close to the victory, but conceded a return goal in the 96th minute of the game. There was no surprise that during the showdown, two more players had got red cards by the final whistle.
Athletic
The club started this season in a very promising way. It seemed that Ernesto Valverde would not only be able to give his “old-new” wards an impulse, but simply lift them into the top 4. Still, at first the results became unstable, and, then, to be frank, terrible. There was a time of hopes that everything would be corrected by means of the success in the Cope del Rey, but the higher mentioned tournament resulted in a 0-1 defeat made by Osasuna in February. However, there will be a return semi-final, and, it is reasonable to name it as the No. 1 event for “the Basques” throughout the spring part of the season. Indeed, the team has been “blown away” in the Primera. It fought with Barcelona with a great dignity, but lost with a 0-1 score, which is already the 4th defeat, including the cup one, in five previous matches.
The statistics of head-to-head matches
Valladolid got four points in the matches with Athletic in the 2020/2021 temporada, but it was still relegated. Having returned to the elite division, the team lost to the opponent with a 0-3 score in Bilbao.
Predictions
Bookmakers believe in good chances for the guests to win. Nevertheless, we do not expect goals in the following battle – thus, we bet on “total: under 2.5” (odd: 1.76).
