Atletico Madrid vs Rayo Vallecano

Metropolitano Stadium is the venue as Atletico Madrid and Rayo Vallecano lock horns in a potentially tricky La Liga task for the home side.

Atletico Madrid claimed a narrow 1-0 win away to Athletic Bilbao at the weekend, taking their winning La Liga streak to three matches and solidifying their position in the top-four race. But ‘Los Rojiblancos’ can ill-afford to get complacent as they head into proceedings level on points with fifth-placed Real Sociedad. Vallecano’s visit should aid Atleti’s cause, given that Diego Simeone’s men are enjoying a seven-game winning La Liga run against this opposition. It’s worth noting they kept a clean sheet in the last six of those H2Hs, suggesting their first home shutout of the 2022/23 La Liga season could be on the cards. Indeed, Atleti’s topsy-turvy home form has seen them alternate between winning (2) and losing (2) across their opening four home league fixtures.

On the other hand, visiting Rayo Vallecano played out a tepid 0-0 home draw with bottom-half Getafe at the weekend, making it just one win from their last four La Liga outings (D1, L2). Stuck in mid-table lethargy, the visitors come into this encounter desperate to bounce back from a disastrous run of three consecutive league defeats on the road, all of which saw them concede 2+ goals. Yet Vallecano went unbeaten on their most recent top-flight visit to a Madrilenian side and could pick up points in back-to-back such match-ups in La Liga for the first time since 1996-2000. That prospect looks a bit far-fetched, considering ‘Los Franjirrojos’ have lost their last eight La Liga away meetings with Atletico, drawing a blank in each of the last three on the bounce.