Atletico Madrid make the trip to Mestalla on Saturday afternoon to face Valencia as they look to apply more pressure on current surprise league leaders Real Sociedad.
Valencia have largely been inconsistent to begin the season. Which is hardly surprising following a chaotic summer that saw a number of key players leave the club with no suitable replacements coming in. They are currently in 9th position in Serie after picking up 12 points from their 9 matches, just 5 points off 4th placed Real Madrid.
A run of three defeats in La Liga threatened to bring the wheels off but they have recovered well and have Los Che have gone unbeaten in their last three La Liga games which includes a 4-1 rout of Real Madrid at the beginning of this month and a hard-fought 2-2 draw away at Alaves last weekend after coming from 2 goals down.
Javi Gracia’s side have a chance to put another big name to the sword. They will need to show the same fight and spirit to stand any chance in this game.
Diego Simeone’s side have had a brilliant start to this campaign, winning each of their last 5 La Liga games to sit second on the table, 3 points behind leaders Real Sociedad and even more importantly with two games in hand! With both Real Madrid and Barcelona struggling to find form, Atleti have taken full advantage at the early juncture and showed their title credentials when they beat Barcelona 1-0 last weekend to remain the only undefeated team in the league.
They, however, failed to build on that terrific result in their midweek Champions League game which ended in a disappointing goalless stalemate against Lokomotiv Moscow. They remain second in their group behind Bayern.
Atleti will be keen to continue pressing their advantage as they resume their La Liga assignments where they have seemingly reserved their best football with 18 goals scored and only two conceded in their 8 league matches.
There is no question that Valencia will give as much as they get in this game. Following the departure of key players like Coquelin, Dani Parejo and Kondogbia in the summer, the young crop of products from their academy have really stepped up for them in recent matches. They play without fear and they fight till the end. They will, however, be up against an Atletico team that has stepped up themselves this season, more so Joao Felix. They are looking to make hay while the sun shines and the quality and experience within their rank and file should be able to carry them to victory here @ 1.75 with Interwetten as our initial betting tip.
Goals are a common feature whenever these two teams meet. Both teams have scored in each of the last four fixtures between them. Both teams have also scored in five of Valencia’s and three of Atletico’s last six outings in all competitions. With Atleti having just played in midweek, their focus and fitness levels may not necessarily be optimum and we are backing both teams to score @ 1.95 with Interwetten bookie review for our last tip here.
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