Athletic Club and Valencia will face off this Sunday at San Mamés (4:15 PM local time). Here are the most compelling statistics and historical notes leading into the match, courtesy of Opta.
– Athletic Club has lost two of its last four LaLiga meetings against Valencia (two wins), after having gone unbeaten in the previous eight encounters (three wins, five draws).
– At the current San Mamés, Athletic has suffered only one defeat in 12 league meetings with Valencia (four wins, seven draws). That is their lowest loss count against any opponent they have hosted at least 10 times in LaLiga at this stadium (also one defeat versus Real Betis in 12 matches: 10 wins, one draw).
– Valencia has failed to win any of their last 15 away league trips to Basque Country teams (eight draws, seven losses). Their last victory in the region was a 0-1 win at Real Sociedad in September 2020. This is their longest winless away streak against Basque sides since 1988 (34 matches: 10 draws, 24 defeats).
– Athletic has won four of their last six home league matches (two losses). After a 1-0 win over Osasuna last time out, they could keep consecutive clean sheets at home in LaLiga for the first time this season.
Recent Athletic vs. Valencia Encounters
– Valencia has lost four of their last seven league matches (two wins, one draw), one more defeat than in their previous nine games (five wins, one draw, three losses).
– Athletic scored four goals in their last league match against Alavés with an expected goals (xG) of just 0.97, the second-biggest overperformance (+3.03) by any team in a LaLiga game this season. Villarreal did so by scoring four goals with an xG of 0.77 against Espanyol in February (+3.23).
– Valencia has scored the fewest goals (9) and the lowest percentage of their total goals (24%, 9 out of 37) in the first half of LaLiga matches this season.
– Nico Williams scored a brace against Alavés, bringing his LaLiga goal tally to six in 24 matches this season. That equals his best scoring record in a single campaign in the competition (six goals in 36 games in 2022/23).
– Valencia’s Hugo Duro has been involved in four goals in eight league matches against Athletic (three goals, one assist). Only against Atlético Madrid (five goals), Real Madrid (five goals), and Sevilla (three goals, two assists) has he been involved in more goals in LaLiga (also four with four goals against Getafe).
– Athletic head coach Ernesto Valverde has drawn 12 of his 29 league matches against Valencia (11 wins, six defeats). That is the highest number of draws he has recorded against any single opponent in the competition.