Athletic had a slow start to the season, being held at home by Getafe in their campaign opener before suffering a 2-1 defeat to Barcelona, but they managed to record a 1-0 victory over Valencia at the end of August.

A second defeat in three matches followed at home to Atletico Madrid, but the Lions have been victorious in their last two games, winning a five-goal thriller against Las Palmas last weekend before beating Leganes 2-0 on Thursday night courtesy of goals from Dani Vivian and Inaki Williams.

Ernesto Valverde's side are currently fifth in the table on 10 points, just one point behind second-placed Atletico and five from Barcelona at the summit.

Athletic finished fifth in La Liga last season to qualify for the league phase of this season's Europa League, with their opener in the competition set to take place away to Roma next week.

The team's immediate focus will be on the league, though, as they attempt to return to winning ways against Celta, having suffered a 2-1 defeat when the two teams last locked horns in May.

Celta have been one of the surprise packages in La Liga this season, picking up nine points from their five matches to sit sixth in the table, one point behind Athletic ahead of this weekend's contest.

The Sky Blues started their campaign with successive victories over Alaves and Valencia, before losing their next two against Villarreal and Osasuna, but they were back to winning ways last weekend, beating Real Valladolid 3-1, with Borja Iglesias scoring his third league goal of the season.

Claudio Giraldez's side actually have the joint-second worst defensive record in the league this term, having conceded 10 times, but they have scored 13, with only Barcelona (17) managing more at this stage.

Celta's goals have been spread throughout their side this season, but Iago Aspas has come up with two, with the 37-year-old in impressive form in the opening weeks.

The Sky Blues have won their last two home league fixtures with Athletic, but they suffered a 4-3 defeat when the two teams locked horns in the corresponding game during the 2023-24 campaign.

Athletic will be without Nico Williams for this weekend's game, the Spanish international having suffered an ankle injury against Leganes.

Yeray Alvarez and Unai Simon are also still out, but apart from Nico Williams, the team had no further problems against Leganes, so the squad is largely the same as it was for Thursday's game.

Inaki Williams is expected to come into the starting lineup in place of his brother, while Oihan Sancet also returns in the No. 10 spot and Unai Gomez will be on the bench.

For Celta, Yersin, Javi Manquillo, Mihailo Ristic, Carlos Dominguez and Luca de la Torre will miss the game due to injuries, but Alfon Gonzalez is back after suspension.

Iglesias, who has scored three league goals this season, will continue to play in the final third for the Sky Blues, with Aspas and Pablo Duran expected to be in the box for the Sky Blues.

However, with Gelson out with a shoulder injury, changes will have to be made to the back three, which will open the door for Marcos Alonso to make his debut from the opening whistle.