Atleticovs.Valencia

Having collected eight points from four games, Atleti head into the weekend in third position in the league table, while Valencia are languishing at the foot of the table with one point to their name.

Match preview

Having won two and drawn two of their first four matches, Atletico head into the weekend in third position and four points adrift of leaders Barcelona.

Atleti kicked off their campaign with a draw against Villarreal and a 2-0 win over Girona, before they were involved in a frustrating goalless affair against newly-promoted Espanyol at the Metropolitano.

Diego Simeone's side looked set to play out another goalless draw in their away meeting with Athletic Bilbao until substitute Angel Correa netted a dramatic winner in stoppage time to clinch Atleti's first away win of the campaign.

Simeone will be pleased with the fact his team have recorded three consecutive clean sheets and are yet to concede in the second half of a La Liga game this season.

Atleti may fancy their chances of claiming another shutout on Sunday after keeping clean sheets in their last two home games against Valencia - a 3-0 win in March 2023 and a 2-0 victory in January this year.

In fact, Atletico tend to perform well in their home meetings with Los Che, having won eight of their previous nine head-to-head home meetings.

Valencia would have been satisfied with their 10th-place finish last season, but Ruben Baraja would have been slightly concerned by his team's poor end to the campaign which saw them take just two points from their final seven matches.

Unfortunately for Los Che, that disappointing run of form has carried into the new campaign, with their opening four matches producing one draw and three defeats.

Valencia began the season with three consecutive defeats against Barcelona, Celta Vigo and Athletic Bilbao, before they picked up their first point of the campaign with a 1-1 home draw against Villarreal

Los Che would have viewed that draw as an opportunity missed after they played over 20 minutes with a numerical advantage following Pape Gueye's dismissal.

As a result of their poor start to the season, Valencia enter the weekend as one of four teams yet to win a La Liga game this season, along with Las Palmas, Sevilla and Getafe.

However, Valencia may find it difficult to change that statistic this weekend, having failed to win any of their last 15 competitive away matches against Atletico.

Atletico Madrid La Liga form:

D

W

D

W

Valencia La Liga form:

L

L

L

D

Team News

Atletico midfielder Pablo Barrios will be out for three weeks after sustaining a muscle injury during a training session with the Spain Under-21 side.

Reinildo Mandava also picked up an injury issue during the international period, but there is hope that the Mozambique defender will be available to feature in the matchday squad.

After missing the win over Athletic due to illness, Atleti's first-choice goalkeeper Jan Oblak will return to the side for Sunday's contest.

Cesar Azpilicueta, Rodrigo De Paul and Alexander Sorloth are all set to come into the side, while Argentina international Julian Alvarez is likely to drop to the bench.

Meanwhile, Valencia recently announced that they have taken disciplinary measures against Rafa Mir after he was arrested over sexual assault allegations.

Mir has been released on conditional bail and has initially been suspended by the club for two games, but ESPN have reported that he has been removed from the squad for an indefinite period.

Baraja is also without the injured quartet of Jaume Domenech, Mouctar Diakhaby, Hugo Duro and Jose Gaya, with the latter out for at least another month after seeing a specialist in Finland.

Dani Gomez suffered a broken nose in training earlier this month, and he is set to don a face mask for his first La Liga start of the season.

Atletico Madrid possible starting lineup:

Oblak; Le Normand, Gimenez, Azpilicueta; Llorente, Koke, De Paul, Lino; Griezmann, Gallagher; Sorloth

Valencia possible starting lineup:

Mamardashvili; Correia, Mosquera, Tarrega, Vazquez; Guillamon, Pepelu; Lopez, Almeida, Rioja; Gomez

We say: Atletico Madrid 2-0 Valencia

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