Athletic Bilbao take on the visitors Arsenal in the round 1 match of UEFA Champions League group stage. The match will be played on Tuesday, September 16th at Estadio San Mamés (Bilbao).
Athletic Bilbao are playing solid football. The Basques have a reputation as a tough and well-organized side, though they also face the natural limitation of relying almost exclusively on players with local roots. Interestingly, their current main star is Nico Williams, whose parents emigrated from Africa. Thanks in part to the efforts of their winger, under the leadership of Ernesto Valverde who returned to the dugout, the club has achieved notable success lately. In 2024, they won the Copa del Rey — for the first time in exactly 40 years! And they finished last season in 4th place, thus qualifying for the UEFA Champions League again. This, by the way, helped them keep Nico at the club. The new season began with only wins in August. And after the campaign resumed, they surprisingly slipped up against Deportivo Alavés, losing 1-2. Athletic have still won five of their last six home matches, showing strong form at San Mamés Stadium. Their defensive record is also solid — they kept three clean sheets in their previous four league games.
| 2 x £10 Free Bet | Review | |||
| 100$-500$ for No Lose Free Bets | Review | |||
| 100% up to £200 | Review | |||
| Not available | Review |
Arsenal have undoubtedly become strong again under Mikel Arteta. If they previously couldn’t break into the top four of English football, they have now finished runners-up in the Premier League three times. However, after battling Manchester City for the title until the end in 2024, they fell hopelessly behind Liverpool last spring. And there is growing talk that they must finally win a trophy, especially as even Tottenham Hotspur have lifted the UEFA Europa League. They spent heavily on new signings this summer, led by Viktor Gyökeres. But the Merseysiders invested much more in their squad and even won the head-to-head clash late in the summer — 1-0 thanks to a Dominik Szoboszlai goal. Before that, however, the Londoners beat their other eternal rivals Manchester United and crushed Leeds United, though they lost Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka and Martin Ødegaard to injuries during this run. In September, they played another convincing match, beating Nottingham Forest 3-0. Arsenal have now won four of their last five matches in all competitions. Their attacking play has been sharp, scoring at least three goals in three of those fixtures.
Having never met before, the clubs faced off a month ago in the Emirates Cup. The English side won that match 3-0. The visitors still have more overall quality. We’ll take the risk and back them to win.
Prediction for the match: Arsenal to win.
