As we approach the business end of the La Liga season, one of Spain’s biggest clubs remains in real danger of dropping into the second tier.
On Sunday, struggling Sevilla entertain Atletico Madrid at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium, with the hosts languishing just three points outside the relegation zone.
📸 Seguimos preparando el #SevillaFCAtleti 💪🏼 pic.twitter.com/p3dS9baZsO— Sevilla Fútbol Club (@SevillaFC) February 8, 2024
📸 Seguimos preparando el #SevillaFCAtleti 💪🏼 pic.twitter.com/p3dS9baZsO
At the opposite end of the table, Diego Simeone’s side occupy fourth place, leading Sevilla by a whopping 28 points with a third of the season remaining.
Sevilla eased their relegation fears with a 2-1 victory over Rayo Vallecano last time out, despite facing 22 shots while seeing only 32% possession.
Still, there is no hiding the fact that Sevilla have managed to win just two of their previous 17 La Liga encounters, losing seven of the past 11.
It is also worth pointing out that Sevilla have failed to win any of their last eight home league games, suffering three straight defeats before drawing with Osasuna last month.
On top of that, trends show that Sevilla have failed to keep a clean sheet in any of their previous 12 home matches across all competitions.
Atletico Madrid, meanwhile, suffered a 1-0 defeat to Athletic Club in the first leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final on Wednesday.
That loss ended a six-game unbeaten streak for Simeone’s side, who racked up five consecutive wins in January before drawing with Real Madrid in their previous league match.
Atletico have taken 10 points from a possible 12 since their last defeat in La Liga, conceding two goals while keeping two clean sheets for good measure.
That said, Simeone’s men have struggled on the road in recent times, losing four of their previous six away league outings while conceding 10 goals.
Head-to-head: Last month, Atletico Madrid claimed a 1-0 victory over Sevilla in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals, picking up their fourth straight win against the Andalusians.
To make matters worse for Sevilla, they have managed to win just two of their previous 14 La Liga meetings with Atletico.
Team news: Sevilla’s injury crisis means that Lucien Agoume, Mariano Diaz, Nemanja Gudelj, Dodi Lukebakio, Marcao, Tanguy Nianzou, Kike Salas and Alejo Veliz are all on the sidelines.
Atletico Madrid are also missing several key players, with Cesar Azpilicueta, Jose Maria Gimenez, Thomas Lemar and Vitolo on the treatment table.
When you combine Sevilla’s below-par campaign with their poor recent record in this fixture, all the signs point towards an away win this weekend.
Forebet’s algorithm predicts that Atletico Madrid will score over 1.5 goals on their way to victory, although Sevilla are expected to find the back of the net.