In their bid to continue their perfect start to the La Liga season, defending champions Atletico Madrid face a tough test on Sunday, as they welcome Villarreal to the Estadio Wanda Metropolitano.
Diego Simeone's men have already seen off Celta Vigo and Elche to move to the top end of the La Liga table, while their visitors have had a relatively slow start and will look for their first league win of the season on Sunday.
Match preview
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With 58 points from their opening 23 games of last season, coinciding with difficult campaigns for Barcelona and Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid looked set to cruise to the La Liga title, but a slight dip in form saw the battle for top spot heat up.
With pressure piled on, Simeone's men needed to win their final three games to triumph, and they did what was required, grinding out 2-1 victories over Real Sociedad, Osasuna and Real Valladolid to bring the La Liga trophy to the Estadio Wanda Metropolitano for the 11th time, and the first since 2014.
With giants Barcelona and Real Madrid continuing to struggle, Los Colchoneros will come into the new campaign with their sights set on retaining the title, and they got off to a winning start as an Angel Correa brace secured a narrow 2-1 victory in a tough away clash with Celta Vigo.
Correa was again on the scoresheet last time out, as he hit the winner in a 1-0 victory for Simeone's men, seeing them post back-to-back victories to begin the season.
With both of their main title rivals already dropping points, the Madrid outfit will be keen to continue their strong run to immediately establish themselves at the summit, but they face a difficult test on Sunday.
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Villarreal had an impressive campaign on the whole last time around, as they triumphed in the Europa League with a penalty shootout victory over Manchester United after defeating Red Bull Salzburg, Dynamo Kiev, Dinamo Zagreb and Arsenal in two-legged affairs on their way to the final.
However, a seventh-placed finish in La Liga may have slightly disappointed Unai Emery, who added a third Europa League to his trophy cabinet, and the Yellow Submarine will be looking to break into the top six this time around.
They did not have the ideal start though, as despite dominating large portions of the game, they were held to a goalless draw by Granada on the opening day.
Emery's men then travelled to take on newly-promoted Espanyol, and a similar game produced an identical outcome, as the Yellow Submarine again took a point after failing to break the deadlock.
Following two fairly disappointing results, Villarreal will look to cause something of an upset on Sunday to put their first league win of the season on the board.
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Team News
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While he is getting closer to a return, Atletico Madrid attacker Joao Felix remains out of action with an ankle injury for now.
Star striker Luis Suarez has also slightly struggled for fitness, and is yet to start a La Liga game this season, but Angel Correa has stepped up in impressive fashion, hitting all three of their goals so far to earn six points for Los Colchoneros.
Diego Simeone seems to be deploying a slightly altered system this season, with Saul Niguez, Koke and summer signing Rodrigo De Paul forming an impressive trio in midfield in front of a back three.
They also boast plenty of quality on the flanks, with Thomas Lemar and Marcos Llorente offering attacking threat from wing-back roles.
Villarreal are without important midfielder Dani Parejo through injury, meaning Manu Trigueros and Etienne Capoue should line up in the centre.
Elsewhere, winger Samuel Chukwueze is out injured, while centre-back Pau Torres remains on holiday after a long season that ended with a spell at the Olympic Games with the Spanish team, after Villarreal's extended Europa League run and Spain's Euro 2020 campaign.
The signing of winger Arnaut Danjuma from Bournemouth was recently confirmed, and he should come straight into the side to ignite a struggling attack.
The line will be led by Gerard Moreno, who remains in search of his first goal of the season after finding the net 23 times in La Liga last campaign.
Atletico Madrid possible starting lineup:
Oblak; Savic, Gimenez, Kondogbia; Llorente, Saul, Koke, De Paul, Lemar; Correa, Carrasco
Villarreal possible starting lineup:
Rulli; Foyth, Mandi, Albiol, Pedraza; Pino, Trigueros, Capoue, Danjuma; Moreno, Dia
We say: Atletico Madrid 1-0 Villarreal
While Villarreal are yet to be broken down this season, we think Atletico Madrid have enough to get a crucial goal to seal their third straight win.
Emery's men will struggle to threaten Simeone's strong back line, and Los Colchoneros should have enough chances to work their way through the Yellow Submarine lines, with one goal likely making the difference.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Atletico Madrid win with a probability of 47.02%. A draw had a probability of 27% and a win for Villarreal had a probability of 25.97%.
The most likely scoreline for an Atletico Madrid win was 1-0 with a probability of 13.08%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (9.19%) and 2-1 (8.9%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.67%), while for a Villarreal win it was 0-1 (9.02%). The actual scoreline of 2-2 was predicted with a 4.3% likelihood.
