Eibar lost pretty surprisingly last week against Betis, and this defeat could cost them European competitions next year.
They are currently at the 8th spot in the standings 5 points, behind Real Sociedad in the 6th place, which leads to Europe.
Their direct opponent in this race is Athletic Bilbao, and they have three points and more. Tonight's game is worth much more than just that 3 points.
If Athletic wins, they will eliminate Eibar from the European race and jump over Real Sociedad. If the opposite happens, things will be much more complicated in the battle for that last European spot.
With the last week's defeat, Eibar ended their three consecutive win streak, during which they have displayed a very solid performance, scoring 8 goals and conceding 3. Previous to these victories, they had 4 games without a win in which they had 3 draws and a loss against Real Madrid.
Overall this is a fantastic season for them because nobody expected that six games before the end of the season they are going to be in a position to reach Europe.
In the last six games at home, they have 4 victories, and in each six matches, they scored at least one goal. In the last three wins at home, Eibar scored at least three goals in each of them. This is the perfect example of their style of play, and Eibar isn't going to give up on him, no matter the team on the opposite side.
Athletic Bilbao demolished Las Palmas at San Mames 5-1, in the last round, and they are in a solid shape ahead of this game. In the last 9 matches in the national championship, they have six victories and three losses, and they have improved their form in significantly comparing to the first part of the season.
In the last five games played away from the home ground, Bilbao has three defeats and two victories, and in the last three games, they scored each time, which tells us that they are improving.
When looking head-to-head matches between these two teams, Eibar has just one win in the last seven games. In the previous two meetings, they have conceded 8 goals and scored only three.
Athletic also won the game in the first part of the season with 3-1.
But we have to add that the last match played at Estadio Municipal de Ipurua in Eibar, finished with a home team victory 2-0.
This is bound to be a high scoring game because both sides are playing open and offensive football with many counter attacks, after all, the best players in both teams are mainly playing up front.
For us, the best possible bet in this game is both teams to score. Also, you would need to take into consideration over 2.5 goals, and we think that there will be no problems with these two plays
