Almeria vs Athletic Bilbao preview - Bilbao steeled against complaceny

Posted Monday, April 04, 2011 by PA

Athletic Bilbao defender Mikel San Jose has warned against taking Monday's opponents Almeria lightly even though there are 13 places and 16 points between his side and the struggling Andalusians in the Primera Division standings.

Athletic started the weekend in sixth spot on 42 points and fighting hard for a Europa League berth, whereas Almeria found themselves stuck down in the bottom two, level on 26 points with last-placed Hercules and staring relegation in the face.

Despite that, however, San Jose believes Almeria need to be treated with respect, saying: "I'm a little surprised that they are so low. They have a good team, very good players and up front they can cause a lot of damage.

"We know that if we don't go there and give it everything we will have a bad time of it.

"They are a team who, because of their situation, are in great need of points and are going to come at us from the start. We know that it's going to be a very tough game in which we will need to fight hard if we want to get something positive out of it."

Almeria had been showing signs of improvement last month, picking up five points from three games, but they slumped to their 13th defeat of the campaign when they went down 1-0 to Sporting Gijon before the international break.

That match was decided by a controversial goal scored by Sporting's Miguel de las Cuevas, who handled the ball just before firing into the net.

Speaking ahead of Monday's clash with high-flying Athletic, Almeria coach Jose Luis Oltra said: "At this moment it's the most important game of the season for us.

"We're coming off a painful defeat, from a week without playing and it's clear the players are eager for the game to arrive.

"We're working very hard and this should have it's just reward on the pitch, but we are not getting what we would like. Let there be no doubt that the players are giving their all and they deserve better results."

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