Back the stalemate in Thursday's La Liga clash at Sevilla's Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium.
Sevilla v Athletic Bilbao – Thursday 8:30, Sky Sports 5
Sevilla secured a come-from-behind derby win against Real Betis at the weekend, and they will hope to keep their title chase alive with a win over Athletic Bilbao at home. Although they have played a game more than Real Madrid, they are just three points behind and are well-positioned for a late surge after four straight wins. Bilbao are winless in their last eight on the road in the league, failing to score in last four of those, so this will be a big challenge for the away side.
Sevilla have won nine of their last 10 at home against top-half non-Big Two sides, while Bilbao have lost seven of their last eight against top-six sides on the road, and they’ve lost by two or more in seven of their last 11 away against top-six sides. However, Sevilla will be without Stephen N’Zonzi, who is suspended: they’ve picked up just two points from the last nine games he’s failed to start and they’ve conceded 20 goals in that time – they’ve only let in 1.11 goals per game in his 44 starts since 2015/16.
Sevilla also have captain Nicolas Pareja and leading provider of goals Pablo Sarabria suspended while their next most creative output, Vitolo, is an injury doubt. Athletic also have a couple of absences but are not as badly affected. After winning the derby at the weekend Sevilla might suffer a comedown here against a team they’ve lost four of their last six meetings with (albeit winning both at home), but we think that neither team will be firing on all cylinders after barely three days off. Half the six matches Pareja has missed this season have finished all-square and at 4.0 that looks a decent long shot.
