Malaga vs Athletic Bilbao
Malaga
Athletic Bilbao
vs
Sunday 10th January 2010
Venue: La Rosaleda
Kick-off: 16:00
Score: 1 - 1
Gurpegi aware of Malaga threat
Malaga may still be stuck in the relegation zone but the steady improvement they have been making over the last few months has not gone unnoticed by Athletic Bilbao midfielder Carlos Gurpegi, who described the Andalusian team as "very dangerous" ahead of the clash between the two clubs.
Malaga started the season in hugely impressive fashion with a 3-0 drubbing of Atletico Madrid on the opening weekend, but that proved a false dawn as in their next nine league and Copa del Rey games they lost seven times and drew the other two.
However, since going down 1-0 to Valencia at the start of November, Juan Ramon Lopez Muniz's side have not been beaten.
They recorded six successive draws to stop the early-season rot, and then in their final game before Christmas they finally picked up their second win of the campaign when they beat high-flying Real Mallorca 2-1.
Malaga followed that up with yet another draw in their first game of 2010, tying 2-2 at Sporting Gijon last weekend, before beating in-form Getafe 2-1 in midweek in the first leg of their Copa del Rey last-16 tie.
That has left the south coast side with the longest unbeaten streak among La Liga teams in competitive matches, better even than Barcelona and Real Madrid, but drawing so many fixtures means they are still in 18th spot in the table and two points from safety.
A wary Gurpegi admitted: "They are a very dangerous opponent who are improving.
"They are a side who go forward with a lot of players. They have players like Duda, who is very difficult to set plans for. We have to take advantage of the space that they leave when they attack."
Gurpegi knows his side can ill afford to slip up at La Rosaleda, as Athletic have a testing month which sees them play four of their five league matches away from home and host second-placed Madrid in the other.
Athletic slipped up in their first match of that run, losing 2-0 to Mallorca last Sunday to drop them down a place to eighth, and Gurpegi believes the encounter could prove crucial.
"The result in Malaga is going to help define the rest of the season and we don't want to be any lower than where we are now," he said.
"We didn't start the year how we wanted. We now have another away game and we have to get back to how we were at the end of last year when we won four successive away games. On Sunday we have another opportunity against an opponent who have gone eight games without losing, It's going to be a very difficult game."
David Lopez and Gaizka Toquero are both available again and have been included in Joaquin Caparros' 18-man squad, but Joseba Etxeberria, Inaki Munoz, Ion Velez, Iban Zubiaurre and Aitor Ocio are all missing.
For Malaga, Manolo Gaspar remains sidelined, while Victor Obinna is away with Nigeria at the African Nations Cup, but Duda and Juanito should both shake off knocks in time for the match.
Looking ahead to the clash, Malaga midfielder Apono said: "The team is playing better all the time and the results are showing that.
"If we can finish the first half of the season with 19 points it would be very good for our hopes of achieving safety."
