With 2.05 points per game against Osasuna, Athletic Club coach Ernesto Valverde comes up against one of his favourite LaLiga opponents on Monday night as there’s another northern clash in Spain, with Valverde looking to take his unbeaten streak against Osasuna to 10 games over a 13-year period.

In recent history, there’s been an even record with two wins each and one draw, while three of the past five meetings have come in at under 2.5 goals. Along those same lines, away fixtures for Osasuna this season have averaged just 1.9 goals per game, while Athletic’s home fixtures are only marginally higher at 2.0 goals per 90.

Only Barcelona have conceded fewer goals at home in the league than Athletic this season, and they went into the World Cup break with back-to-back clean sheets at San Mamés. In fact, they have only conceded more than 1.0 xG at home once this season, in a 1-0 defeat to Espanyol, and will be hoping to shut out Osasuna’s front line. Given that Osasuna’s strikers have needed 1.25 xG for every goal scored this season, they will need to buck several trends if they are to beat Unai Simón between the sticks.

At the other end, suspension for Unai García in the Osasuna defence could see Juan Cruz continue his move from left-back to central defence, but reverting to a back four rather than the back three trialled in the 2-0 defeat to Real Sociedad. That could help Osasuna to keep the score down, given that they have conceded 1.1 goals per 90 with a back four compared to 1.5 goals per 90 with a back three over the past 12 months.