La Liga Tips: Back a Bilbao bounce back and 5/2 Atletico Madrid masterclass | OneFootball

Spanish LaLiga

Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone wants his side to finish the season strongly

In La Liga this weekend, Paul Higham fancies a bounce back victory for Athletic Bilbao and Atletico Madrid to produce the goods to all-but book their Champions League spot...

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Girona v Villarreal

Saturday 17:30

Girona finally won a game last week after 11 attempts without victory. That's given their survival hopes a huge boost and they now have a six-point cushion above the drop zone before they host Villarreal.

The visitors are 11/10 favourites here though, after back-to-back wins kept them right in the Champions League race, although they're only in fifth by a point heading into the weekend's fixtures.

Girona have earned seven of their 10 La Liga wins at home, but have lost all three as home outsiders. In the Yellow Submarine, they face a team who have scored more goals and won more away points than anyone in the league outside of Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Marcelino's side have won six of seven away games as favourites, and triumphed in their last six trio to Girona, and with no team having a better ratio of games with goals at both ends, we'll take that with an away win.

Mallorca v Valladolid

Saturday 17:30

Mallorca are seeing their European dreams slip away after successive defeats dropped them out of the top eight - albeit they're level on points with two teams above them.

Scoring goals has been the issue as the Pirates have scored in just two of the last six games, during which they've lost four, drawn one and won just once. So a home match against relegated Valladolid with just one point from 15 games looks just the ticket.

The visitors have conceded 83 goals this season and are the only team to score fewer than Mallorca, so the hosts will surely end their 300-plus minute goal drought and secure a vital victory as they seek a first European qualification in 22 years.

Atletico Madrid v Real Sociedad

Saturday 20:00

Atletico Madrid continued their ease down towards the line with a 0-0 at struggling Alaves last week. With a six-point cushion in third place, Diego Simeone will want to just secure that spot. A win will go a long way towards doing that.

Real Sociedad have fallen off a cliff of late with a four game winless run (L2 D2) - during which they've drawn three blanks - dropping them out of the European places altogether.

Atleti, who are 4/6 home favourites, have only lost to Barcelona at the Wanda Metropolitano this season and have won nine of the last 11 home head-to-heads (D2) with Sociedad - who usually concede a couple of goals on their visits.

You can make a case for Atletico's minds wandering to their holiday plans, but they still have a job to do and at home in a Saturday night game they should raise their levels one last time. But with Sociedad's scoring problems, and in-form Julian Alvarez suspended for the hosts, I won't be expecting too many goals.

Athletic Bilbao v Alaves

Sunday 17:30

There's no time for Athletic Bilbao to cry over losing at Man Utd as they need to get right back to La Liga business and ensure they qualify for the Champions League next season. They're in position to do that, in fourth, with a four-point gap over Real Betis in sixth.

Alaves are still in trouble just three points outisde the relegation zone but they're unbeaten in three having beaten Sociedad and drawn with Atletico. On the road they're unbeaten in five, with four draws and a win, so they'll offer stubborn resistance.

Bilbao dominated for large parts at Old Trafford but missing the Williams brothers and others hampered their chances, and instead they'll have to lean on their superb defence and home record at San Mames, which is why they're 10/11 favourites here.

Athletic are unbeaten in 14 home league games, unbeaten in seven against Alaves with six clean sheets and conceded just 10 goals at home - by far the best record in the division - and I fancy them to get the job done again.

Goals will be an issue and Alaves have been knocking in plenty on their travels, but they've failed to score on five straight visits to Bilbao and I'll back that run to continue.

Recommended bets

Back Villarreal win and both teams to score @ 13/5 Back Mallorca win to nil @ 10/11 Back Atletico to beat Sociedad and under 2.5 goals @ 5/2 Back Athletic Bilbao to win to nil @ 17/10