Atletico Madrid vs Villarreal
Atletico Madrid and Villarreal are set to convene at the Civitas Metropolitan Stadium this Sunday evening.
Los Rojiblancos are in the thick of the La Liga title race, sitting in fourth place with 25 points. Last Saturday, Atletico Madrid saw their six-game winning streak in the league come to an end after suffering a 2-1 upset loss against Las Palmas.
Meanwhile, Villarreal have plummeted to 13th place because of their mixed bag of La Liga 2023 results. They are also coming off a league loss, which was a 3-2 result at the hands of Athletic Bilbao on Monday.
Atletico Madrid and Villarreal are actually coming off midweek wins in Europe, with both of them one step closer to the Round of 16 in the Champions League and Europa League. But will their momentum carry over this weekend?
Talking Points
This is not the usual Atletico Madrid that we’ve come to know
Atletico Madrid have scored the second-most goals in La Liga this season thus far (26 goals), which isn’t normally what we see from a Diego Simeone side.
Save for their defeat against Las Palmas, Los Rojiblancos have eight wins and one loss, and they also have a game in hand after this tiff against the Yellow Submarine. So, if they capitalise, they might find themselves within arm’s reach of league leaders Girona.
Leading Atleti’s new approach is the duo of Alvaro Morata and Antoine Griezmann, who have accounted for 23 total goals across all competitions thus far.
Morata and Griezmann are in a rich vein of form, and they were mainly responsible for Atleti’s 6-0 demolition against Celtic on Wednesday in the Champions League group stage, with both of them having a brace.
Other than Morata and Griezmann, eight other players have found the back of the net for Atleti this term, with Angel Correa having three goals, Samuel Lino, Nahuel Molina, Marcos Llorente, and Rodrigo Riquelme having two goals, and Memphis Depay, Saul Niguez, and Pablo Barrios having one goal.
But even if they have revamped their attack, Diego Simeone has not lost touch with his defencive identity, as his team boasts the second-best defence in the league, with only 11 goals conceded thus far.
Villarreal struggling to steady the ship
Villarreal look more likely to get relegated than fight for a place in European football because of their instability on and off the pitch.
After losing several key players this summer, the Yellow Submarine have underperformed, and it also didn’t help that they were bit by the injury bug.
On Sunday, Villarreal won’t have the likes of Juan Foyth, Alfonso Pedraza, Denis Suarez, Francis Coquelin, and top scorer Gerard Moreno due to injuries.
Because they’re in a slump, Villarreal have parted ways with their second head coach of the season, Pacheta. Since Pacheta replaced Quique Setien in September, the 55-year-old has only managed five victories in 12 matches across all competitions.
History
For some reason, Atletico Madrid haven’t beaten Villarreal at home in any of their last three La Liga meetings (D2, L1). Los Rojiblancos’ most recent home encounter with the Yellow Submarine was a 2-0 loss in August 2022, although they’ve never lost two in a row at home to them in the Spanish top-flight.
Villarreal have lost just once in their last 10 visits to Madrid-based clubs in La Liga (W4, D5), with the only loss being a 2-1 result against Rayo Vallecano in May.
However, Atletico Madrid have won their last 14 La Liga home matches, scoring an average of 2.8 goals per contest. Should they win again on Sunday, they will be able to notch their longest winning streak at home in their Spanish top-flight history.
These two sides last met in June at El Madrigal, which ended in a 2-2 draw, as Angel Correa scored a brace for 10-man Atletico Madrid, while Nicolas Jackson and Jorge Pascual scored for Villarreal.
Betting Tip
The SBOTOP La Liga 2023 odds have Atletico Madrid winning this contest. Los Rojiblancos are priced at 1.34 to win, while Villarreal are 7.00 underdogs, and a draw is at 4.70 in the 1X2 market.
Given the trend of their recent meetings along with Atletico Madrid’s apparent change of approach, we’re guaranteed to see some goals on Sunday, with the hosts scoring more to claim maximum points. Two goals should be enough for Atletico Madrid to see off Villarreal, so other than our recommended bet above, you also might want to consider going for Under 3.00 at 2.05.
A SHORT EXPLANATION ON HOW OUR (⭐) BETS ARE WORTH:
⭐⭐⭐= €20 (HIGHLY CONFIDENT)
⭐⭐= €10 (CONFIDENT))
⭐= €5 (SOMEWHAT CONFIDENT)
Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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