MONDAY NIGHT LA LIGA: Our football tipster The Ultra previews Monday’s La Liga clash between MALLORCA v ATHLETIC BILBAO with a recommended BETDAQ bet.

MALLORCA V ATHLETIC BILBAO

8pm We have a very busy week ahead in the Europe as the Champions League and Europa League kick off their knockout stages, but we start the week on BETDAQ Betting Exchange! with action from La Liga as Mallorca host Athletic Bilbao. Both clubs come into this fixture on a high, with Mallorca winning a huge relegation battle with Cadiz in last weekend’s fixture and Athletic Bilbao are in great form in both La Liga and the Copa Del Rey at the moment.

Athletic Bilbao have a second leg of the Copa Del Rey Semi-Final look forward to at the start of March, but they have already knocked out Barcelona and Real Madrid along the way! They are locked a 1-1 heading into that second leg against Valencia and although they are away from home, you’d have to fancy them – they are just a different side in the Copa. It’s amazing how they turn into a top class side in the cup and they are a mid-table side in La Liga. If they get through that Semi-Final it will be their third final in the last three seasons. It’s unfortunate they had to play both finals within a few weeks of each other last season because of Covid19 and they lost both. It would be nice to see them win one.

For tonight, they’ll have to put their cup run aside. From a betting point of view on Athletic Bilbao you would be pleased to see the second leg a few weeks away because they will definitely focus on that. You wouldn’t class them as “out of the running” for a Europa League spot but it will be pretty difficult looking at the sides ahead of them so if they drop a few points soon they won’t be able to achieve anything in La Liga. Their season will be decided in the next four weeks.

If you are Mallorca, every game is massive at the moment when you’re in a relegation fight. That win over Cadiz was impressive and with Cadiz drawing on Saturday that means Mallorca still have a four point advantage with two games in hand. You wouldn’t rule Alaves out of catching Mallorca but it’s a little bit more unlikely and Mallorca also have a game in hand on them too. The bottom three look a little detached after that win for Mallorca and although they will start this game as outsiders they will know a draw would create even more distance. It will be interesting to see their tactics because even though some of their recent games have been low scoring when you look at the xG figures you see very open games.

Mallorca have actually been creating some decent chances recently. Their recent xG figures read 2.43, 1.64, 1.43, 1.41, 1.22 and 1.26. They have had to play Barcelona and an in-form Villarreal too on that run, and they have been unlucky not to collect more points recently. I strongly feel all the Bilbao attention will be on the Copa and when you look under the hood at their performance recently I’m happy to take them on here. For example, they picked up a 1-0 win over Rayo Vallecano recently but they conceded an xG of 2.12. I feel the away side look a little too short here at 2.34 and given Mallorca are creating good chances I fully expect the match to be closer than those odds reflect.

The Ultra Says:
Two points lay (liability) Athletic Bilbao to beat Mallorca at 2.34 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.

You can view all markets here -> https://bit.ly/BDQMalAth