Lowly club Malaga CF (1-3-2, 5 points) is set to host contending team Athletic Bilbao (4-2-0, 12 points) at their home field of La Rosaleda Stadium on Sunday, Oct. 2 as the 2016-2017 La Liga season moves forward.
Malaga opened their season on a four-game winless streak before earning a victory over Eibar, 2-1, in their fifth game this term.
However, the team was back on the ground again with another defeat in their next game on Sep. 23, losing to Real Betis, 0-1, on the road at the Benito Villamarín Stadium, as per ESPN.
Spanish midfielder Joaquin was the game's lone goalscorer with a header at the 25th minute off a Charly Musonda assist as both sides struggled to find goals all throughout the match.
The loss was the third in six games of the season for head coach Juande Ramos' side and it looks like they are up to their fourth in this upcoming match against Athletic Bilbao.
Meanwhile, Los Leones are on a roll right now, winning four straight games after starting the season on a two-game losing skid.
Their most recent match ended in an impressive 3-1 win over reigning Europa League champions Sevilla at the San Mamés Stadium last Saturday, BBC Sport reported.
Spanish midfielder Mikel San Jose buried a close-range left-footer to open the scoring at the 26th minute.
Sevilla fought back in the second half as winger Samir Nasri leveled the count, 1-1, with a goal at the 55th.
Left back Mikel Balenziaga scored with his own left-footed shot at the 66th to give the lead back to the hosts before resident striker Aritz Aduriz sealed the win with a successful penalty kick right at the stroke of full time after a red card was handed to Sevilla keeper Salvatore Sirigu.
Athletic Club is projected to extend their winning run to five games while Malaga succumbs to their second straight defeat.
Prediction and Predicted Lineup
The predicted result is a 2-0 win for Athletic Bilbao.
Malaga starting lineup (4-4-2 formation): Kameni; Rosales, Llorente, Torres, Ricca; Juanpi, Camacho, Kuzmanovic, Jony; Charles, Sandro
Athletic Bilbao starting lineup (4-2-3-1 formation): Arrizabalaga; de Marcos, Lopez, Laporte, Balenziaga; San Jose, Benat; Williams, Garcia, del Moral; Aduriz
Head To Head
Athletic are unbeaten in 5 games against Malaga. There was just 1 goal in the games between the sides last season, scored by Athletic in Malaga.
Stats
Malaga have failed to score in 7 of their last 13 league games. Athletic have won 6 of their last 11 away matches in La Liga.
Team News
Keko is still injured so Malaga should go 4-4-2 again here with Juanpi wide on the right. Charles and Sandro should start up front.
Right back Oscar de Marcos is expected to be fit following an injury. Few changes are expected but Etxeita could be rotated in at centre-back with Yeray dropping out.
