- Deportivo Alaves have won two, tied two and lost just one of their last five matches.
- Alaves have won six, drawn six and lost four of their 16 home games in LaLiga 2025/2026, averaging 1.31 goals per game scored and 1.19 per game conceded at the Mendizorrotza.
- Athletic Bilbao have won just three of their 16 away matches in LaLiga 2025/2026, losing ten times and conceding 29 goals on their travels.
Alaves in the groove under new coach
Alaves have won one of their last two home games and drawn the other, showing improvement under their new manager Quique Sanchez Flores, who has imposed more order and discipline on the team.
The Madrid coach has already made the team tighter and more compact, while their previous tendency to over-complicate things has been replaced with a more pragmatic, counter-attacking approach.
His team, who sit 16th in the table with 36 points from 33 games, look set to maintain their top-flight status and still have momentum from recent results.
Our Deportivo Alaves vs Athletic Bilbao prediction suggests Alaves’ talisman up front is Antonio Martinez, who has scored 11 LaLiga goals in 32 appearances, including six in the last five, and they will need him to deliver again if they are to beat Athletic Bilbao.
Bilbao in the habit of being beaten on the road
The Basque giants are tenth in the standings with 41 points from 33 matches, which is probably enough to secure a European berth in 2026-27, but they have failed to win on their two most recent road games.
Bilbao are still the same high-intensity, pressing team that Ernesto Valverde likes to play, charging from a mid-block and attacking quickly, with overlapping full-backs and wide players a real threat.
But they are conceding goals on the road, as evidenced by their 3-2 defeat to Atletico Madrid, and Gorka Guruzeta’s prolific start to the campaign has made him their main threat in the final third. The striker has nine goals in 30 games in total and has scored three of Bilbao’s last six. This Deportivo Alaves vs Athletic Bilbao preview highlights both teams' attacking threats, setting up an exciting contest.
Basque derby likely to be a lively encounter
The odds on a Deportivo Alaves win here, 2.73, look quite generous as the home side are in form and much more likely to win than the odds imply.
But our Deportivo Alaves vs Athletic Bilbao betting tips point out that Bilbao have a solid record against Alaves in recent years, although the Babazorros did edge them 1-0 away in the LaLiga 2025/2026 campaign.
That result is part of a three-game head-to-head sequence in which each team has won once and there has been one draw, but this Deportivo Alaves vs Athletic Bilbao prediction concludes this is a Basque derby and has a little extra spice to it for both sets of supporters.
The contrast in styles should make it an end-to-end game and with the hosts likely to take advantage of their recent momentum and home form, we’re going for a home win in a high-scoring game with goals at both ends.
