Athletic Bilbao coach Ernesto Valverde is confident facing Real Sociedad in tonight's Basque derby.

Valverde admits he always looks forward to the clash.

"In my opinion, it's the best derby in LaLiga. You can see all the fans together, having fun and cheering on their teams. I'm sure there will be an extraordinary atmosphere like always," Valverde said in his pre-match press conference on Friday evening.

"It's true it's come round quite quickly and we took a beating [against Getafe] due to playing with ten men for so long. But we have to be fresh and play at our best level."

He added: "Each team will do what they normally do: try to take the game to the opponent. Both of last season's matches were hard-fought, with each of us winning at home.

"Real Sociedad are playing Champions League football for a reason. They have the ability to win tough games. Right now we're evenly-matched. There's never a clear favourite because the rivalry, which is healthy, means the possible differences don't always show."