Stat Attack – Espanyol vs. Athletic Bilbao
Espanyol and Athletic Bilbao will be facing each other in the Spanish La Liga on the coming weekend. Espanyol will be hosting Bilbao as both the sides are potential candidates for the UEFA Champions League spot.
Los Blancos are currently at the top of the table as they won their first fixture of the Spanish La Liga and managed to score six goals. The Spanish Champions http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Barcelona-c38604 are just behind them with the same number of points and they scored five goals past their
first opposition – Villarreal.
Last season, Athletic Bilbao managed to qualify for the Europa League play-off round as they ended up at the sixth position in the Spanish La Liga points table. On the other hand, Espanyol finished at the eighth position. They were nine points behind Athletic
Bilbao while Bilbao were level on points with Sevilla and Atletico Madrid.
Espanyol have lost none of their last 13 matches at home to Athletic in the league.
Not only have Espanyol lost 13 of their fixtures to Bilbao, they have also suffered a loss to all the Spanish La Liga sides the last five times any of them have visited them.
Despite losing the last thirteen home fixtures against Athletic Bilbao, Espanyol have still scored for the last eleven times Bilbao have visited them.
Athletic Bilbao had a fantastic last season. They were one of the sides who were a treat to watch. They were also the side who scored the highest amount of goals from headers in the Spanish La Liga. Bilbao scored as many as seventeen headed goals in the
Spanish La Liga last season. Most of the headed goals scored by Athletic Bilbao last season were scored by their star striker http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Fernando-Llorente-c13671.
Espanyol have won only a single game in the last eleven in which they have featured. Among those eleven fixtures, Espanyol drew three and lost eight.
Athletic Bilbao are one of the only two teams who managed to lose their first game in the Spanish La Liga despite taking the lead first. Getafe was the other team.
Statistically, Javi Marquez is the most important player for Espanyol as the Catalonian side have only drawn a single game without him last season. Espanyol played nine games without Javi Marquez and they managed to one out of those nine games.
Athletic Bilbao look to be a team who like scoring goals late into the game. Their last five goals in the Spanish La Liga have come in the last twenty minutes of the game.
Espanyol fielded the youngest starting eleven on the opening day of the Spanish La Liga. The average age of all the players who started for the Catalonian club was 24 years and 1 month.
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