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La Liga

Racing Santander coach Juan Carlos Mandia is in optimistic mood as his side take on Athletic Bilbao.

Racing have picked up just one point from their four games at El Sardinero so far this season, and have suffered embarrassing 4-1 defeats to both Getafe and Barcelona in the process.

That poor form has contributed to Racing going into this weekend's fixtures stuck in the bottom four of La Liga with only seven points, but Mandia believes his team can finally give their fans something to shout about against neighbouring Athletic.

"We have trained well this week. We are excited and confident about gaining our first win at El Sardinero and I appeal to the fans to help us achieve it," said Mandia, who took charge of Racing this summer following the departure of Juan Ramon Lopez Muniz.

"The game is very important for Racing and we are only thinking about the win, so we have to play better than our opponents, run more than Athletic and all the players have to give everything on the pitch."

Racing striker Mohamed Tchite also believes tomorrow will be a good day for the Cantabrian side, adding: "We are going to pick up the three points against Athletic.

"There is a lot of confidence in the team. We need to be calm as there are a lot of league games left and, in other seasons, there have been teams that didn't have good starts but finished well in the championship."

It is anyone's guess which Athletic will turn up tomorrow, with Joaquin Caparros' side having produced a real mixed bag of results so far this season.

Last season's Copa del Rey finalists enjoyed a flying start to the season with four successive victories in La Liga and the Europa League, but they were then triumphant in just one of their next eight matches before returning to winning ways with last weekend's 1-0 victory over Atletico Madrid.

The Basque side will therefore be a somewhat unpredictable opponent for Racing, although Mandia insists his thoughts are on his own team rather than the visitors.

"With all the respect in the world, I don't want to focus on Athletic, what I'm concerning myself with is that we have a good game from the first minute until the 90th," said Mandia, who should have most of his players available for the game against their northern rivals.

Athletic make the short trip to Santander with confidence boosted by last weekend's win over Atletico and their midweek Europa League draw with CD Nacional.

Caparros' men looked to be heading to defeat in that match on the island of Madeira, but Joseba Etxeberria's penalty five minutes from the end earned Athletic a potentially crucial 1-1 draw and they now only need a point from their next Group L match against Austria Vienna to qualify for the round of 32.

Caparros has a question mark against the fitness of star striker Fernando Llorente, while Fran Yeste, Gaizka Toquero, Aitor Ocio and Markel Susaeta might also all be missing. Striker Inigo Diaz De Cerio is available again, though.