Champions League
2025-09-16 - Athletic Bilbao vs Arsenal
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: UEFA Champions League
Tuesday 16th September 2025 - Kick Off 5:45pm
This game is live on TV
Athletic Bilbao
Ten years have passed since Athletic Bilbao last played in the Champions League, but they finished 4th in the Spanish top flight to make their return. There will still be some real disappointment in this part of the Basque region that Athletic Bilbao reached the Semi Final of the Europa League before falling at the last hurdle when the Final was being hosted in their own Stadium, but it was a strong European campaign from which they can build.
In recent years Athletic Bilbao have been a solid, but perhaps underachieving team as far as European Football is concerned. They are still a club that will only sign Basque players, so have perhaps overachieved from some points of view, but Athletic Bilbao will need to step up their level if they are going to challenge within the Champions League. The side did win 6 home games in the Europa League last season, but Athletic Bilbao were reduced to ten men which contributed to a 0-3 home defeat in the Semi Final against Manchester United.
Athletic Bilbao had opened the Spanish season with 3 straight wins as they look to once again push for a top four finish, or perhaps more, but the sequence was ended in a 0-1 home defeat to Alaves this past weekend. That result does mean Athletic Bilbao have won 3 and lost 3 of their last 6 games here in all competitions.
Aymeric Laporte was not registered for the Champions League squad and Nico Williams is out with an injury.
Arsenal
Winning a big piece of silverware is the target for Mikel Arteta and his Arsenal team having finished 2nd in the Premier League and reaching the Champions League Semi Final a few months ago. A positive start has been made domestically and Arsenal will be looking for a top eight finish in the Champions League to move straight through to the Last 16 of the competition.
The Gunners finished 3rd in the League Phase of the competition in its new format last time around and the manager will be targeting at least 16 points, which should be enough for a top eight spot. After failing to win the first 2 away Champions League games, Arsenal won 4 in a row on their travels before coming up short against Paris Saint-Germain in the Semi Final.
Arsenal have won 3 of the opening 4 Premier League games after securing a 3-0 victory over Nottingham Forest on Saturday, but they are still chasing Champions Liverpool. The side were beaten 1-0 at Anfield, but Arsenal have won at Old Trafford last month and had won 4 of 6 games played on their travels before losing at Anfield.
William Saliba and Martin Odegaard are unlikely to be risked with a big game coming up this weekend. A strong team will still be selected with the likes of Miles Lewis-Skelly, Ben White, Gabriel Martinelli and Declan Rice perhaps coming in to freshen things up. Former Athletic Bilbao player, Kepa, may also be given a chance to start ahead of David Raya.
Head to Head
This is the first time Athletic Bilbao and Arsenal are meeting in a competitive fixture.
They did play one another in a pre-season game in August, which was hosted by the English club.
Prediction
The new format of the Champions League Group Stage will have been something that manager's were not quite sure how to deal with last season.
Finishing in the top eight remains important, but it is perhaps not so important that risks will be taken with team selections.
However, that may be the case later in the Champions League Group Stage and making a strong start is still key to lay a solid foundation from which to progress. Taking early risks could lead to pressurised situations in January, as Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City found out, and so we should see managers taking games very seriously this side of Christmas.
Mikel Arteta will take a strong Arsenal squad to Bilbao, even if he does choose to make one or two changes to the starting eleven. Injuries dictate that the likes of Martin Zubimendi, Noni Madueke and Victor Gyokeres need to start, while Eberechi Eze may be given a more central role in the likely absence of Martin Odegaard.
This should still be an Arsenal team capable of winning at an Athletic Bilbao team that will be missing Nico Williams.
Athletic Bilbao are very good at home and only lost 2 League games here last season, while Manchester United won here in the Europa League Semi Final. That game was changed by an early sending off for the home team, but there is a talent gap to bridge against one of the top English Premier League clubs.
The 0-1 defeat to Alaves this past weekend would have hurt too and Arsenal have shown plenty of defensive resilience to believe a single goal could be enough to win here.
With some decent early fixtures in the Champions League, Arsenal can make a fast start in a campaign in which they want to go at least one better than the Semi Final run from 2024/25 and The Gunners can do enough to win here.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Athletic Bilbao 0-1 Arsenal
FIXED ODDS BETTING TIP :
I'll back Arsenal to Win at 1.90 with BetFred
