Valencia midfielder Daniel Parejo. (Photo : Getty Images)
Mercurial team Valencia CF (7-8-10, 31 points) and reeling squad Athletic Bilbao (10-10-5, 35 points) are set to clash at the Mestalla Stadium on Feb. 28th, Sunday for a 2015-2016 La Liga season matchup.
Valencia is coming off a close 2-1 victory over bottom dweller Granada at the Estadio Nuevo Los Cármenes last Sunday, as per SkySports.
Els Taronges midfielder Daniel Parejo opened the scoring at the 55th minute after both team were unable to find the back of each other's nets in the whole of the first half.
The visitors preserved their one-goal lead up to full time, but both squads were able to score goals during injury time to finalize the count. Valencia striker Santi Mina scored in the first minute of injury time while Granada midfielder Edgar Mendez netted a consolation five minutes through.
It was the second consecutive win of Gary Neville's side after settling for two draws and suffering two defeats in their previous four matches. Valencia is currently drifting at the 11th spot of the Spanish top flight table.
Meanwhile, Athletic Bilbao is heading the opposite direction, dropping their second straight game versus middling team Real Sociedad, 0-1, at their home field of San Mamés Stadium also last Sunday, as reported by ESPN.
La Real's Brazilian forward Jonathas scored the lone goal of the match, his fourth in his team's last three games, at the 17th minute, which proved to be enough to capture the three points in the overall standings.
Los Leones tried to score the equalizer, but the attempts of midfielders Markel Susaeta, Iker Muniain, and Mikel San Jose were all blocked by the stingy Txuriurdin defense, who never let up all throughout the entire match.
The loss was the Athletic Club's third in their last six matches, which dropped them to the eighth spot in the current league table, one point behind seventh-placed Eibar and now only two points above Real Sociedad.
The predicted result is another tough 2-1 victory for Valencia.
Valencia starting lineup (4-2-3-1 formation): Alves; Cancelo, Mustafi, Santos, Siqueira; Perez, Parejo; Feghouli, Gomes, Cheryshev; Alcacer
Athletic Bilbao starting lineup (4-2-3-1 formation): Iraizoz; de Marcos, Gurpegui, Laporte, Balenziaga; San Jose, Benat; del Moral, Muniain, Williams; Aduriz
