Athletic Bilbao – Sevilla. Alexander Vishnevskiy’s prediction

A tough week lies ahead for Sevilla as they’ll take to the field for two finals in just seven days. On May 18 Unai Emery’s team is going to fight for the Europa League trophy against Liverpool in Basel, before facing Barcelona in the Copa del Rey final just four days later. So what do they need to do in the last La Liga game? Save themselves and avoid injuries, that’s pretty much it. Two Sevilla players – Tremoulinas and Krohn-Dehli – are already injured, so both will miss the finals.

This means that Emery is highly likely to field his reserve team in Bilbao and against a good side, especially at home, a lesser team can struggle. The Sevilla second string were mostly involved in the last game against Granada, this was game which meant nothing and the 4:1 thrashing is more than ample proof of this.

Now facing Athletic Bilbao, a team who need points in order to secure 5th place, which of course means going straight to the Europa League group stages. Given that the visitors focus is clearly elsewhere and the fact that Athletic have something to play for in this game and in this game only it’s hard to look past a home win.

But the odds on that are too low (~1.36) so we are tasked with finding something more appealing here. William Hill offers enhanced odds on Aduriz to score and Athletic to win. Which, given that what is mentioned above, coupled with the form of Aduriz this season, looks a good offer. The striker constantly proves a threat in and around the box, especially from crosses. He often scores from the spot too. Overall, the best bet to be on in this one is Athletic Bilbao to win and Aduriz to score.