Athletic Bilbao boss Marcelo Bielsa says his team must focus solely on themselves and not the plight of this weekend’s rivals Espanyol.
The Catalans are currently second-to-bottom of La Liga, having failed to register a single point this season, but Bielsa maintains his team cannot afford to worry about their opponents and must concentrate on their own game.
The Basques have not tasted victory at Espanyol in 14 games but the Argentine is insistent that Los Leones must put that to the back of their minds if they want to take anything away from Cornella El-Prat.
“It is difficult to interpret things that have happened over 14 years and there is no common denominator,” maintained Bielsa in a Press conference.
“Therefore, we have to try and succeed without looking at this bad run and we’ll be judged on what we do ourselves and play to our own standards, which are very high.”
Espanyol have lost players during the summer and brought in seven new signings to strengthen Mauricio Pochettino’s squad, but Bielsa feels it is a factor that will have no influence on the game.
“The team we are facing has been through this before and we expect the usual things from Pochettino’s team, having a lot of possession and a marked tendency to attack.
“Nonetheless, we will pay attention to what we do and not worry about what problems our opponents can cause us,” he added.
