Malaga travel to San Mames on Sunday for the first of two trips within four days. These sides drew 0-0 at La Rosaleda on Wednesday night in the first leg of their Copa del Rey quarter-final and will meet three times over eight days.
Both sides come into the game in poor form with Bilbao particularly struggling. They sit thirteenth in La Liga just three points clear of the relegation zone and have picked up just one point from their last six league games including losing their last three at home.
Malaga sit seventh in La Liga but they too are on a bad run. They have won just one of their last six games in all competitions and have just one point in their last three league games as they slip further behind the top six.
Bilbao will be without the suspended Iker Muniain and Oscar de Marcos also looks likely to miss out through injury. Malaga have their own issues though and will be without Recio who is suspended and Sergio Sanchez doesn't look likely to be fit enough in time to return to the team this weekend.
With both sides in poor form it is difficult to judge how this will go. Bilbao's situation seems a little more desperate and they will want to get the wins required to take them into the top half of La Liga away from the relegation battle. Having said that, Malaga will be hoping to turn their season around and close the gap on the European places. With the cup tie in midweek it will be interesting to see how the managers play this and it should make for an intriguing encounter.
Possible Starting Line-Ups:
Athletic Bilbao: Iraizoz, Iraola, Etxeita, Laporte, Balenziaga, Iturraspe, Rico, Susaeta, Viguera, Ibai and Aduriz.
Malaga: Kameni, Rosales, Weligton, Angeleri, Antunes, Camacho, Darder, Amrabat, Juanmi, Castillejo and Javi Guerra.