Atletico Madrid vs Valencia Predictions & Match Preview

Atletico Madrid vs Valencia predictions and match preview for Saturday’s LaLiga fixture. Read on for expert analysis, the head-to-head, team news and predicted lineups as Los Che travel to the Wanda Metropolitano.

Atletico Madrid vs Valencia Preview

Atletico Madrid and Valencia lock horns at the Wanda Metropolitano in the Saturday night game this week in LaLiga. Diego Simeone’s side suffered a fresh blow in midweek and suddenly it feels as though their season is in real danger of petering out.

The Champions League could yet serve as some kind of salvation but there is nothing about their recent form that suggests they will be competitive in the latter stages of that. Atleti have lost 4 of their last 6 league games to fall firmly out of title contention and were eliminated by Real Sociedad in the Copa del Rey in midweek with a 2-0 defeat at the Reale Arena.

There will be plenty of soul searching going on at the Wanda Metropolitano right now and the small minority of supporters and pundits who doubt Simeone are just starting to find their voices again. The focus now will be on making sure they do finish in the top four and they will need to be winning games such as this for that to happen. In fairness to Atleti, they have continued to be pretty solid at home in LaLiga, losing just once in front of their own fans this term, keeping a clean sheet in 67% of their home games.

Valencia travel to the capital with plenty of problems themselves. They’ve been leaking goals throughout much of this campaign and their defensive selection issues were made even worse by events in midweek. First choice keeper Jasper Cillessen went off injured in their 1-1 draw with Sevilla while Jose Gaya saw red in the latter stages of that game meaning they are likely to be without both here.

That’s less than ideal with their best centre-back Gabriel Paulista continuing to be sidelined by injuries and Jose Bordalas’ attempts to forge a solid defensive unit have largely failed. At the other end, they have carried a goal threat but there are also issues there with Maxi Gomez, who has only managed to score two league goals this term, reportedly left out in midweek due to being overweight – a move which wouldn’t have gone down well with the Uruguayan.

Head to Head

• Last 6 Competitive Meetings: 3 Atletico Madrid Wins, 3 Draws.
• Atleti are unbeaten in their last 14 games against Valencia overall.
• They’ve won 5 of the last 6 meetings in Madrid.
• The sides drew 3-3 at Mestalla earlier this term and both teams have scored in 5 of the last 6 meetings.

Team News

Geoffrey Kondogbia is banned for Atletico Madrid. Antoine Griezmann is injured while Angel Correa and Marcos Llorente are also doubts.

Jose Gaya is banned for Valencia. Carlos Soler and Daniel Wass may return in a boost to their midfield but Gabriel Paulista and Jasper Cillessen are expected to be out injured.

Possible Lineups

Atletico Madrid vs Valencia Predictions

Score Prediction: Atletico Madrid 2-1 Valencia

Both these sides feel like a bit of a disaster right now. Valencia may have ended 2022 with 3 straight wins but there are clearly issues on and off the pitch at the moment, which is not unusual by any means for this club in recent years. Atleti also have some significant selection problems but should have enough to exploit a poor Valencia back four that will be missing their best defenders and most likely first choice goalkeeper.

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