Atletico Madrid will be looking to return to winning ways in Spain's top flight when they continue their 2020-21 campaign away to Celta Vigo on Saturday afternoon.
Diego Simeone's side have picked up five points from their first three league games of the season to sit 12th in the table, while Celta occupy 13th with five points to show from their five outings this term.
Match preview
© Reuters
Celta started their 2020-21 La Liga season with a point at Eibar on September 12 before recording an impressive 2-1 home victory over Valencia one week later to put four points on the board.
Another point arrived away to Real Valladolid on September 27, but Celta have lost their last two in Spain's top flight, suffering a 3-0 defeat at home to Barcelona before going down 2-0 at Osasuna last time out.
A return of five points from five matches represents a solid start to the campaign and as mentioned, Oscar Garcia's side are currently 13th in the division, level on points with Atletico.
The Sky Blues have only just survived in La Liga in each of the last two seasons - finishing 17th on both occasions - and it does appear that they will again be reliant on Iago Aspas for goals this term.
© Reuters
Atletico, meanwhile, only started their league season at the end of September due to their involvement in the knockout stages of the 2019-20 Champions League.
Simeone's side opened their campaign with a thumping 6-1 win over Granada at the Wanda Metropolitano, but they have drawn their last two matches, both 0-0, with Huesca and Villarreal.
Atletico will be determined to put three points on the board this weekend and will again be looking to Luis Suarez for goals, with the summer arrival from Barcelona already netting twice for the capital outfit.
The Red and Whites also have the small matter of a trip to Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday, which is shaping up to be a fascinating contest at the Allianz Arena.
Atletico will enter Saturday's clash as the favourites, but they have only won one of their last four La Liga games with Celta and have not been victorious in Vigo since October 2017.
Celta Vigo La Liga form: DWDLL
Atletico Madrid La Liga form: WDD
Team News
© Reuters
Celta will again be without the services of Sergio Alvarez, Ruben Blanco, Kevin Vazquez and Hugo Mallo through injury, while David Junca is a doubt ahead of the contest.
The absences of Mallo and Vazquez could see Nestor Araujo switch to a right-back spot, while Emre Mor is likely to be handed the number 10 position behind lone forward Aspas.
Fran Beltran is also expected to return in the middle of the park, but Denis Suarez and Nolito should keep their positions for the home side in wide areas.
As for Atletico, Sime Vrsaljko remains on the sidelines with a muscular problem, while the capital side will also be without the services of Jose Gimenez, Saul Niguez and Renan Lodi.
Angel Correa, Yannick Ferreira Carrasco and Joao Felix could feature alongside Luis Suarez in an attacking position, but on-loan Arsenal midfielder Lucas Torreira is likely to start on the bench.
Kieran Trippier should also be available despite being forced to pull out of the England squad ahead of Wednesday's UEFA Nations League clash with Denmark to attend a personal FA hearing.
Celta Vigo possible starting lineup:
Villar; Araujo, Aidoo, Murillo, Olaza; Tapia, Beltran; Nolito, Mor, Denis Suarez; Aspas
Atletico Madrid possible starting lineup:
Oblak; Trippier, Savic, Felipe, Hermoso; Correa, Koke, Llorente, Carrasco; Luis Suarez, Felix
We say: Celta Vigo 0-1 Atletico Madrid
Simeone will be desperate for his side to return to winning ways after back-to-back draws, and we just fancy the visitors to triumph on Saturday afternoon. Celta are certainly capable of causing issues, but Atletico should have enough to record their second league win of the season.
Top betting tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting over 1.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Over 1.5:data
Matt Law
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Atletico Madrid win with a probability of 48.36%. A draw had a probability of 27.3% and a win for Celta Vigo had a probability of 24.38%.
The most likely scoreline for an Atletico Madrid win was 0-1 with a probability of 13.95%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (9.75%) and 1-2 (8.84%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.65%), while for a Celta Vigo win it was 1-0 (9.05%). The actual scoreline of 0-2 was predicted with a 9.8% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Atletico Madrid would win this match.
