La Liga moves into matchday No. 3 with a cracker of a match as Valenica host Atletico Madrid at Mestalla on Monday to finish off a four-day weekend of football.
Valencia head into matchday No. 3 with three points from three on offer. A 1-0 matchday No. 1 win against Girona was followed by a 1-0 away loss to Athletic Bilbao last weekend.
André, te están grabando pic.twitter.com/lBezQu8CZV— Valencia CF (@valenciacf) August 26, 2022
André, te están grabando pic.twitter.com/lBezQu8CZV
Atletico Madrid started the season well with a 3-0 win at Getafe. Diego Simone’s side were then well-beaten by Villarreal 2-0 on matchday No. 2.
Valencia have struggled against Atletico Madrid in the teams’ last six head-to-head matches. Not long ago, Valencia were one of the teams that battled for a top four place. Now, Los Che are just looking for some semblance of relevancy in La Liga.
Atletico Madrid won three and drew three matches with Valencia in their last six head-to-head encounters. Atletico outscored Valencia 13-9 in the teams’ last six head-to-head matches. Thirty-three yellow cards and one red card was handed out in the last six games.
The last three games between these sides ended with over 2.5 goals and both teams scoring.
There is a potential for goals to be scored, especially with Atletico continuing to stray from playing defensive football and attempting to focus more on attack.
Simone will be without Nahuel Molina Lucero due to a suspension. Defender Stefan Savic is once again injured. He is expected to miss games until mid-September.
Atletico are struggling financially due to overspending in recent seasons. The signings of Joao Felix and Antoine Griezmann has caused major financial issues as the club mismanaged its funds. Multiple Atletico players have been told to take a wage cut.
Los Rojiblancos will sell players ahead of next week’s transfer deadline day but it is unlikely too many of their high earners will be snapped up by other clubs.
One player that could leave is midfielder Marco Llorente. Liverpool are linked with signing the midfielder due to their midfield crisis.
Valencia boss Gennaro Gattuso will be without forward Hugo Duro until September following an injury. Defender Thierry Correia is a doubt following a muscle issue.
Atletico have a brilliant head-to-head record against Valencia in the teams’ last six matches. Los Rojiblancos should continue their excellent form versus Los Che by posting a narrow away win.
Like the last three games between these sides, both teams should score with over 2.5 goals. Atleti should win to move to six points from nine.