Real Sociedad vs Atletico Madrid 04/03/19

4 March 2019

Real Sociedad and Atletico Madrid face-off at the Estadio Anoeta in a match both sides have to win to achieve their objectives.

Although unbeaten in ten of their previous outings across all competitions, the hosts have pulled off just four victories in that period, being held to six draws in the process. However, the Whites and Blues can still qualify for the Champions League as they currently sit four points adrift of fourth-placed Getafe. After a surprisingly slow start to the season, the Royal have secured three wins in their last four LL home clashes (W3, D1) as they now hope to post their third back-to-back LL home win over Atletico. Real Sociedad’s most notable improvement concerns the attacking displays that have seen them score 2+ match goals four times in their last five competitive home games. A potential worry for Imanol Alguacil could be that his players failed to preserve a clean slate in five of their previous seven home games, allowing over 1.5 goals per match three times along the way.

Meanwhile, the visitors have to wrap up all three points at all costs as they currently trail La Liga leaders Barcelona by seven points. Los Colchoneros seem to have managed to overcome a period of minor crisis that has seen them lose two successive LL meetings. Diego Simeone’s men have racked up a three-game winning run across all competitions, beating their rivals to nil each time. But, although Los Rojiblancos won two of their last three LL road clashes (W2, L2), Simeone’s men have failed to impress away from home this campaign, capturing just four wins in 12 LL road fixtures (W4, D6, L2). Although they share the best defensive road record in the Spanish top tier having conceded ten goals on 12 LL road trips, Los Indios have averaged 1.17 goals scored per match, failing to net over 1.5 goals per match three times in the previous four LL away encounters.