Atletico Madrid look to climb back into the top 4 of the La Liga table when they travel to face a relegation-threatened Granada side at the Estadio Nuevo Los Carmenes on Monday (January 22).
Diego Simeone’s side are coming off the back of a thrilling win over rivals Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey and are flying high on momentum as they look to cause further damage to Granada.
Previous Fixtures
Granada have just won one of their last five La Liga matches, which was the 2-0 win over relegation battlers Cadiz earlier this year. They have lost three of their last five league games and need to get back to picking up points to get out of the relegation battle.
Atletico Madrid have only won two of their last five La Liga games and need to improve their consistency if they want to get back into the race for a top-3 finish. They are coming into this clash after defeating Real Madrid in Copa Del Rey, before which they lost in the Spanish Super Cup tie in Saudi Arabia.
Atletico Madrid have normally maintained a good record against Granada in La Liga, having won one and only lost once in their last five meetings. Diego Simeone’s side picked up a 3-1 win over Granada in their La Liga game earlier this season.
Team News
Granada are still without goalkeeper Raul Fernandez, who is out with an injury. The likes of defenders Jesus Vallejo and Victor Diaz as well as forwards Shon Weissman and Famara Diedhou are also doubtful.
Granada Predicted XI: Augusto Batalla, Richard Sanchez, Bruno Mendez, Ignasi Miguel, Carlos Neva, Bryan Zaragoza, Sergio Ruiz, Gonzalo Villar, Álvaro Carreras, Myrto Uzuni, Lucas Boyle
Atletico Madrid are missing defenders Cesar Azpilicueta and Reinildo due to injury troubles, while French midfielder Thomas Lemar is also ruled out due to injury.
Atletico Madrid Predicted XI: Jan Oblak, Stefan Savic, Jose Gimenez, Mario Hermoso, Mario Llorente, Rodrigo De Paul, Saul Niguez, Koke, Samuel Lino, Antoine Griezmann, Alvaro Morata
Where the game will be decided
Diego Simeone’s side are flying high on confidence right now after their win over Real Madrid and will definitely look to play this game on the front foot. Atletico Madrid are going to look to use their momentum to play some incisive attacking football and get another big win on their books.
This game should, however, be a rather end-to-end clash because Granada is desperate for wins and will not just be backing down without a fight. They will look to take the fight to Atletico, piling their own attacking moves to entertain the home crowd.
That is why this game is probably going to be decided on the transitions. Atletico Madrid will need to be calm and effective defensively to stop the hosts from piling men forward in the transitions. They’ll also look to drag out the Granada players and create more space for the forwards to run into in their own counter-attack moves.
Atletico Madrid are heading into this game after having scored three or more goals (in all competitions) and do not have any problems with scoring goals. However, they have been leaking goals (12 conceded in their last five) and face a Granada side whose 70% of home games this season have seen both teams to score. Hence, predicting on both teams to get goals in this one can be a smart bet.
Another one to bet on is for this match to have over 2.5 goals. Granada have averaged 1.40 goals scored in their last 10 home games – while Atletico have averaged 1.80 goals scored in their last 10 away league matches. Going by Diego Simeone’s side’s recent form, it won’t be surprising if they’re involved in another high-scoring affair.
Antoine Griezmann is in hot form heading into this match, having scored two goals in both the recent matches against Real Madrid. While it’s smart to bet on him to continue his goal-scoring form and get a goal in this one, another clever gamble would be for Griezmann to have two or more shots on target. The Frenchman has hit the target three times in three of his last four appearances, so he’s likely to be active here as well.
This match between Granada and Atletico could also be a feisty affair knowing the aggressiveness of both teams. Simeone’s side has averaged 2.3 yellow cards per game this season in La Liga, while Granada has averaged 2.6 bookings per 90. So, a bet on there being over 4 yellow cards being dished out in this match can be smart.
Both teams are also quite reliant on corners because of how good they can be in set-piece scenarios. Atletico Madrid have averaged 4.6 corners in La Liga this season, while Granada has averaged 3.7 corners. So it can be logical to bet on eight or more corners being given in this match.
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