If Barcelona and Real Madrid continue to struggle at the top of La Liga, as they have recently, Atlético Madrid appears poised to take advantage. They have won their last four league games and are putting pressure on the top two teams. As the strongest team in the competition and with key defenders Robin Le Normand and Nahuel Molina recovering from injuries, they are in great shape to make the title race a three-way battle.
Their 5-0 victory over Valladolid last week was their largest winning margin of the season, and they remain undefeated at home in La Liga (W5, D2) as they prepare to face Sevilla to close out the Sunday program. Diego Simeone, who has spent over 700 matches in the dugout for Atlético, is now aiming to lead his team to a fourth consecutive home win against the team he played for before joining Atlético in 1996.
Sevilla find themselves firmly positioned in the middle of the table after their 1-1 draw with Osasuna last weekend, making it their fifth consecutive league match with under 2.5 goals (W2, D1, L2). With entertainment in short supply, Xavier García Pimienta’s team faces yet another challenging task, considering they have only managed to win one La Liga game this season against teams ranked higher than them and in the top half of the table (D3, L4).
Their poor record of only winning one out of their last ten away league games is a major concern (D4, L5), which includes a 1-0 defeat to promoted Leganés in their most recent away fixture. Interestingly, this is also the same scoreline by which they lost their last two competitive head-to-head matches here, further indicating that their search for their first away victory of the season as underdogs (D3, L2) may continue.
Players to keep an eye on: Alexander Sørloth has shown his knack for scoring late goals in three out of Atlético’s recent four league games, with all four of his La Liga goals coming after the 80th minute. Dodi Lukebakio has also been impressive, finding the back of the net three times in Sevilla’s last five league matches, two of which were scored before half-time.
Interesting statistic: In four out of Atlético’s last five home league matches (W4, D1), there were precisely ten corners in each game.
