Atletico Madrid will look to continue their La Liga title defence with a win this weekend when they welcome Real Sociedad in what promises to be an exciting encounter.
Venue: Wanda Metropolitano
Key Statistics
Atletico Madrid have won just one of their last five home games in all competitions (D3, L1).
They have scored just 11 goals in the league this season, which is the joint-second lowest among teams currently in the top ten in La Liga.
Real Sociedad are unbeaten in their last eleven games.
They have kept six clean sheets in their last ten competitive games.
They are top of the La Liga table after eight rounds of matches
Head to Head
Atletico Madrid have the superior record in this fixture, having won six out of the last ten head-to-head meetings between both teams. Real Sociedad have three wins and one draw.
Latest Performances in all competitions
Atletico Madrid: L-W-W-L-W
Real Sociedad: W-W-D-D-W
Atletico Madrid
After their midweek exertions in the Champions League, Atletico Madrid will turn their attention to their La Liga title defence, where they meet surprise league leaders Real Sociedad.
Diego Simeone’s men were beaten by Liverpool on Tuesday despite playing well and fashioning out a lot of chances. They came from two goals down to go level before halftime, before an Antoine Griezmann red card turned the tie on its head, giving Liverpool the advantage to snatch a winner.
The hosts will now look to bounce back from that loss and pick up a win against Sociedad. However, they have been inconsistent in the league this season, having drawn two of their opening eight grams in the league (W5, L1), leaving them trailing their visitors by three points (though they have played a game less).
Their defensive organisation, which had been the foundation on which they built their success in recent years, seems to have collapsed as they have now conceded ten goals in 11 competitive games this season.
They have kept just one clean sheet in their last five games but will hope to get one in this game.
Meanwhile, Marcos Llorente remains the only injury absentee for Simeone.
Possible Atletico Madrid starting line-ups
Jan Oblak, Kieran Trippier, Geoffrey Kondogbia, Mario Hermoso; De Paul, Koke, Yannick Ferreira Carrasco, Thomas Lemar, Joao Felix, Antoine Griezmann.
Real Sociedad
Real Sociedad took advantage of the postponement of Real Madrid’s and Atletico Madrid’s games to climb to the top of the league table last week when they defeated Mallorca 1-0.
The visitors followed up that win with another one-nil over Sturm Graz in the Europa League to extend their unbeaten run in the season to eleven games.
Imanol Alguacil’s side have every reason to dream of a title charge this season and will enter this tie confident of taking all three points. A win here will keep them at the top of the table and help extend the gap between both teams to six points, giving them a psychological boost.
But if they want to win, they must improve on their goal-scoring, as they have scored only one goal in six of their last seven games.
Meanwhile, Alguacil has a lot of injuries to contend with as Nacho Monreal, Mikel Oyarzabal, Rico, Carlos Fernandez and Martin Zubimendi are all injury doubts for this game.
Spanish defender Aihen Munoz will also miss out through suspension, gotten in the game against Mallorca last week.
Possible Real Sociedad starting line-ups
Alex Remiro, Andoni Gorosabel, Igor Zubeldia, Modibo Sagnan, Joseba Zaldua, Ander Guevara, Adam Januzaj, Mikel Merino, David Silva, Portu, Alexander Isak
Prediction
Despite the enviable position of Real Sociedad, it is Atletico Madrid who come into this tie with more motivation.
The hosts will be hurting at the manner they lost the Liverpool game and will be keen on getting back in winning ways.
Expect an entertaining game at the Wanda Metropolitano.
