The home side entered the World Cup intermission following a pair of home victories against Villarreal and Valladolid, both with clean sheets, which alone makes a strong case for another three points here.
Athletic Bilbao
Athletic Bilbao couldn’t honour the late memory of club legend Txetxu Rojo with a victory away to Real Betis. Still, they did the pursuit of their first UEFA Champions League appearance since 2014/15 little harm with a crucial point that left them within arms reach of the top four. Ahead of some stern tests against Sociedad and Real Madrid later in the month, this home fixture against mid-table Osasuna must be taken advantage of. The home side entered the World Cup intermission following a pair of home victories against Villarreal and Valladolid, both with clean sheets, which alone makes a strong case for another three points here. Add to that their five wins from seven La Liga home games against clubs below them in the standings at the start of the round, and it’s easy to see why Athletic start the game as favourites.
Osasuna
Osasuna have to go back only to 2019/20 for their last La Liga victory at Athletic (1-0), in a season where they finished one point above them in the standings (tenth and 11th). Ironically, they would be one point ahead at the end of this round – potentially as high as a fifth place – if they were to take a victory here! Manager Jagoba Arrasate would be the first to admit thoughts of the top four would be premature right now after they were outclassed by both Sociedad (0-2) and Barcelona (1-2) recently. After publicly accepting his side were below their best against Sociedad, Arrasate must find a new way to inspire his team here, especially as Osasuna have one of La Liga’s poorer records as away outsiders this season.
Gorka Guruzeta scored goals either side of half-time in Athletic’s last home outing, the first of which ended a run of him scoring eight consecutive second-half goals for his club side on the day. On the other hand, all six of Chimy Avila’s goals for Osasuna in 2022/23 were before the interval. The half-time result was replicated at the final whistle in all but one of the last ten H2H meetings.