Atletico Madrid have been buoyed by a recent transfer that won’t actually take place until January. They still have a lot of business to take care of in La Liga and on Saturday, they’ll welcome a tough Sevilla team to town.
What To Know About Sevilla
Sevilla sits second in the table, two points behind Barcelona after a 1-0 win at Las Palmas at home. Jesus Navas scored in the 83rd minute to give Sevilla all three points in what has been an impressive start to the season, and they’re never going to blow you away offensively. Sevilla has seven goals in their first five games of the season in La Liga, but they’ve allowed just one, and that might be their route to success. What is more impressive is that they’re doing it with a defense where no player has started all five games for the club. Sevilla will need someone to step up and take the bull by the horns at the back, but for now, they’re doing fine.
What To Know About Atletico Madrid
Goals from Angel Correa and Yannick Carrasco gave Atletico a 2-1 win at Athletic Bilbao and they’re now third in the table, two points behind Sevilla and four behind Barcelona. Sevilla have scored 10 goals over their first five games and Correa has three, and they still have the likes of Antoine Griezmann waiting to catch fire. But Atletico has recently secured the signing of Diego Costa from Chelsea as Costa wouldn’t return to the English club until he was allowed to return to Atletico, where he spent four seasons before moving to Chelsea. He will not join Atletico until January due to the English transfer-window rules, but it is another weapon for Atletico to use to compete in La Liga and in Europe, where they’re in the Champions League. Now, will they hold on to Griezmann, who was rumored to be leaving in during the last transfer window?
Outlook
Atletico is favored at -175 at home, while Sevilla is rated at +500 and a draw comes in at +280. Atletico have won four and drawn three of their last eight meetings with Sevilla, who haven’t won at Atletico since a Copa Del Rey match in May 2010. Both teams have to keep their focus as they have Champions League matches following this game, with Sevilla hosting NK Maribor and Atletico will host, coincidentally, Chelsea. This is Atletico’s second home game of the season as four of their first five were played away from home, and right now, they’re playing some excellent attacking soccer, although would be good if Griezmann could get going. Sevilla’s defense is going to have to play their best game of the season to shut down Atletico and hopefully, they can put away a chance on the counterattack. Lucas Hernandez has been a near-constant for Atletico at the back, but no other defender, including Diego Godin, has played more than three games. This should be a very intriguing game at the top of the La Liga table on Saturday.
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