Match Pack: Athletic Club vs RCD Espanyol (LaLiga MD4)
Match Pack: Athletic Club vs RCD Espanyol (LaLiga MD4)
The Lions, who remain unbeaten and have yet to concede a goal this season, will be looking for a third consecutive win
Unbeaten after their first three LaLiga fixtures, Athletic Club are determined to build on their good run of form
Los Leones are back in Bilbao where they take on Diego Martínez RCD Espanyol at San Mamés on Sunday afternoon (16:15 CEST).
Ernesto Valverde's charges currently sit in fourth place with seven points, knowing a third consecutive win on Sunday will put down an important marker in their fight for a European place.
Match Info
Athletic Club vs RCD Espanyol (Matchday 4)
San Mamés (Bilbao)
LaLiga Santander 22/23
Sunday September 4, 16:15 CEST
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Team News
Ernesto Valverde has called up 23 players for the clash in Bilbao. Julen Agirrezabala and Iñigo Martinez are back in the fold after recovering from their respective injuries. Left-backs Mikel Balenziaga and Yuri Berchiche remain on the physio's bench.
Recent signing Ander Herrera gets his first call-up since returning to Los Leones.
Valverde's comments
Read more from the Gaffer's press conference here.
The Opponents
Head coach: Diego Martínez
After moving into coaching at just 20 years old, Martinez cut his teeth in amateur football before taking over as Sevilla's C team boss in 2010. Diego held various posts with the Andalusians, including serving as the first-team's assistant from 2012-2014 and the reserve-team manager from 2014-2017.
He left Sevilla for Osasuna in 2017, spending one season at the Pamplona-based outfit before joining Granada. Martínez's stock rose substantially during his three campaigns with Los Nazaries. He took Granada back into the top-flight and led them to Europa League qualification.
At the end of the 2020-21 season, Diego let his contract with Granada run down. He took a year off and joined RCD Espanyol on a two-year contract in May 2022.
New signings:
Los Pericos have been very active in the summer transfer window, bringing in no less than 10 new faces. Six of the signings are permanent deals while the other four are loan moves:
Edu Exposito (midfielder, from Eibar), Tonny Vilhena (midfielder, from Krasnodar), Martin Braithwaite (forward, from FC Barcelona), Joselu (forward, from Alavés), Brian Oliván (full-back, from RCD Mallorca) and José Carlos Lazo (UD Almería); Álvaro Fernández (goalkeeper, on loan from SD Huesca), Benjamin Lecomte (goalkeeper, on loan from AS Monaco), Vinicius Souza (midfielder, on loan from Lommel SK) and Dani Gómez (forward, on loan from UD Levante).
Recent form:
Espanyol are still without a win so far in LaLiga 2022/23. They drew 2-2 with Celta Vigo at Balaidos before suffering back-to-back defeats in Cornellà against Rayo Vallecano (0-2) and Real Madrid (1-3).
Previous Meetings
The first top-flight fixture between these two sides back in 1928/29 season was in fact the first LaLiga match ever held at San Mamés. Since then, Athletic Club and RCD Espanyol have played a total of 172 matches against each other in the first division, with the Zurigorri registering 72 wins, 35 draws and 65 defeats.
Athletic have a good track record against Los Pericos at San Mamés, with 55 wins, 14 draws and 17 defeats.
As for the last five meetings between the two sides in Bilbao, Los Pericos have only won three points on one occasion, in the 2017-2018 season. The remaining four encounters saw three wins and one draw for Los Leones.
Athletic came from behind to beat Espanyol at San Mamés last season. Vilhena put the visitors ahead early on but Los Leones struck back quickly, Oihan Sancet and Iñigo Martínez ensuring Athletic were back in the lead with just 16 minutes gone.