This the 29th round of the Spanish La Liga fixture between Alaves and Atletico Madrid. The match will be taking place at the Mendizorrotza Stadium, home ground of the El Glorioso. Currently on the log, both Alaves and Atletico Madrid are temporarily in a good position with a possible ticket to the European tournament next season. With Alaves, the El Glorioso are having an extremely successful season, sitting at 5th place with 44 points after 28 rounds. For today's clash, Alaves will be welcoming Atletico Madrid at home, with coach Abelardo Fernandez understanding the difficulties that awaits them, in which the guests have always been dominant in their previous encounters. Even so, they will surely be filled with a lot of determination to win the maximum 3 points to preserve their position on the league rankings. Atletico Madrid is in a similar situation, especially after their recent poor performance in which they were beaten 2-0 by Athletic Bilbao. The Rojiblancos are now 10 points behind the league leaders Barcelona and just 2 point above their Local Rivals Real Madrid who are seems to be highly motivated since the return of their former manager Zinedine Zidane. Therefore, the guest will need to keep their focus if at all they want to get a point against this in form Alaves team.
ALAVES
The host Alaves are currently sitting in the 5th position on the league rankings with 44 points after having managed to record a total of 12 wins, 8 draws and 8 defeats in their last 28 League fixtures. This season, Alaves has completely played beyond expectations of many, with them playing with a lot of stability since the beginning of the season and until now. They are simply the biggest surprises in La Liga this season, along with Getafe. The host are currently unbeaten in their last 6 matches in the league, with them claiming 12 points in the process. Along with the decline of Sevilla, Valencia and Villarreal, Alaves has taken the huge opportunity very quickly to be in the group of teams who are with tickets to the European Cup next season. However, everything is not guaranteed for Alaves due to the upcoming schedule of the team. The El Glorioso are going to be playing a quite number of difficult opponents in their next, with one of them being Atletico Madrid who is extremely thirsty for points and wants to maintain is 2nd position in the face of a strong chase from Real Madrid. The head-to-head record between the two teams so far also shows disadvantages for the host in which they haven't won against Atletico in the last 7 meetings, with 3 draws and 4 defeats. However, if the host can maintain their form and stability, then winning all 3 points against the Rojiblancos won't be a surprise.
ATLETICO MADRID
The visitors are in the 2nd position with 56 points after 28 rounds. The visitors after that humiliating defeat to Juventus in Uefa Champions league, seems to not have gotten over it yet, after they were beaten again in the league by Athletic Bilbao. With that defeat, Atletico Madrid has seen their rival moved just 2 points close them on the league rankings with 54 points. If they don't get back to their best performance, then they will surely be losing the 2nd spot to their arch rival Real Madrid. Therefore, winning against an in form Alaves side today will be the ultimate goal for the Rojiblancos, in other to keep the distance from Real Madrid. On the other hand, the team confidence is very unstable, if they can win tonight, then that will help the players becomes less gloomy.
PRE-MATCH FACT
- There have been under 2.5 goals scored in 14 of Atletico's last 16 away games in La Liga.
- Atletico have kept a clean sheet in their last 4 matches against Deportivo Alaves in all competitions.
- Atletico have won their last 3 matches against Deportivo Alaves in all competitions.
- Deportivo Alaves are undefeated in 13 of their last 14 home matches in La Liga.
PREDICTION
This game is definitely gonn' be a tough match for both teams, most especially for the guest Atletico Madrid who returns to the competition after two complicated weeks, loaded with bad news inside and outside the turf. The first set back came in form of a 2-0 defeat at San Mamés against Athletic who took with them any aspiration for the Rojiblancos team to dream about a possible title win. Yet another set back was when the guest had to see one if its hot prospect Lucas Hernandez, move to German club Bayern Munich with a world record fee of €80 million euros. Today, they are gonn' be facing an Alaves side who are yet lose a single game in their last six previous matches. However, we can't take away the fact that Simeone's team hold the record of the best defensive team in La Liga, with them letting in an average of 0.68 goals per game. Therefore, the guest wouldn't want their ach rivals Real Madrid to snatch the second spot from them, so the coach will likely field an offensive trident today with Morata, Diego Costa and Griezmann starting upront. Although, it will not be an easy game for the guest, but I'm certain they are gonn' steal the 3 points from Alaves tonight.
MY PICK
- Atletico Madrid To Win @ Odd 1.80
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