Atletico Madrid vs Granada 09/02/20

9 February 2020

Atletico Madrid welcome out-of-sorts Granada to the Estadio Wanda Metropolitano, hoping to return to winning ways in La Liga (LL) after a torrid start to the new calendar year (W1, D1, L2).

The hosts have not only failed to pick up a single win in their previous five games in all competitions (D3, L2), but they’ve drawn a blank on four of those occasions. Los Colchoneros now face presentable opportunity to put their crisis to bed, as they take on a side they’ve beaten in all six of their last top-flight H2Hs held here. Importantly, they’ve scored over 1.5 goals in all but one of those H2Hs, keeping a clean sheet five times along the way. Diego Simeone can also draw on his team’s solid home form lately (W6, D1, L1), especially considering Atletico have shut out their visitors on five of those occasions. What’s more, they’ve scored two goals or more in four of their last six LL home fixtures, with 55.56% of them in that period coming in the second half.

As for the visitors, they’ve lost three of their previous five LL outings (W2), but they go into this clash on the back of a 2-1 win over Valencia in their midweek’s Copa del Rey encounter. Keeping a clean sheet will be of the essence for Granada, whose 88.89% (eight) of nine LL triumphs so far this season saw them shut out their opponents. In turn, 73.68% (14) of their 19 league results (win/loss) have seen the winner on the day keep a blank sheet. However, it will be a daunting prospect for Granada to walk away from Wanda Metropolitano with three points, as they head to Atletico on a run of seven consecutive LL away defeats, five of which have seen them draw a blank.