La Liga: Athletic Bilbao vs Espanyol
At 4:00 a.m. Beijing time on February 8, 2022, the last match of the 23rd round of La Liga, Athletic Bilbao will face Espanyol at home. Athletic Bilbao has been working hard to return to the European competition, but the opposite has happened, the team has been in the middle of La Liga in recent seasons, and this season is still the case, after 22 rounds of league, achieved 7 wins, 10 draws and 5 losses, ranked 8th in the league with 31 points, and there is a 5-point gap with the Europa League qualification area, which shows that Athletic Bilbao still has a long way to go. From the data point of view, Athletic Bilbao scored 21 goals in 22 league rounds, conceded 17 goals, the team defensive end is not bad, is currently the second fewest team in the league, second only to Sevilla, and the average goal rate per game is less than 1 goal, which shows that the downturn in the attack end is the main reason for the team's poor performance.
Athletic Bilbao has performed well recently, going unbeaten in three consecutive matches, especially in the West Cup, when the team first eliminated Barca after 120 minutes of fighting, and then sent the Galaxy Real Madrid home with a 1-0 result, successfully reaching the semi-final of the West Cup. It is worth noting that Athletic Bilbao's home performance in the league this season is not satisfactory, and currently ranks 15th in the league at home, but recently it has won two major giants in La Liga at home, which shows that Athletic Bilbao's home field still has a certain competitive ability.
Espanyol belong to the middle and lower reaches of La Liga, and the main reason why they are well known is that the national football forward Wu Lei plays in this team, although most of them play on the bench this season, but the attention is still not low. After the Return of Espanyol to La Liga this season, in the 3 promoted polo teams, it belongs to the no-no-no position, although not as good as Vallecano, but better than Mallorca, after 22 rounds of league matches, the team has achieved 7 wins, 6 draws and 9 losses, ranking 13th in the league with 27 points, currently 9 points higher than the relegation zone, and there is no relegation pressure for the time being.
Espanyol's recent slump has been unbeaten in five consecutive regular matches, including a 2-1 defeat to promoted Brother Mallorca in the West Cup, which ended in the round of 16. The team played 38% of the ball at home against Real Betis in the last round of the league, with 12 shots and 4 shots on target, although with De Thomas's goal to break the deadlock on the field, but did not maintain the lead, and then was scored by the opponent 4 times in a row, and finally lost 1-4 to the opponent. This defeat can be said to be a "loss of soldiers", not only a big score defeat, the team's core striker De Thomas 2 yellow and 1 red was sent out, this game against Athletic Bilbao, which will be banned.
In terms of past matches between the two teams, Athletic Bilbao has gone unbeaten with 1 win and 3 draws in the last 4 matches against Espanyol, and the first leg of this season was on the road, and the two sides were drawn 1-1. In terms of recent situations, Athletic Bilbao eliminated the two giants of La Liga in the West Cup, and the morale of the team can be said to be in the sky, while the Spaniards are very low, and the core striker has also been banned, and its strength may be affected. Judging from the current attitude of all parties, it still gave the home team a certain support, and it is not difficult for Athletic Bilbao to score all 3 points in this battle.