Wednesday evening’s hosts, Real Madrid, find themselves neck-and-neck with crosstown rivals, Atletico Madrid, at the top of La Liga prior to these midweek fixtures in the Spanish top flight.
The hosts will be sensing that they have a golden opportunity to usurp the usual suspects, Barcelona, who are currently eight points adrift.
Following a mini-wobble during November which saw Real Madrid suffer two defeats in a three-game span with losses incurred against Valencia 4-1 away from home and Deportivo Alaves 2-1 at home along with a draw with Villarreal, Wednesday night’s hosts have since recorded four league wins on the trot in La Liga.
Recent victories over Sevilla 1-0, local rivals Atletico Madrid 2-0, Athletic Bilbao 3-1 and Eibar 3-1 have seen Real Madrid produce a welcome resurgence in form and they’ll be keen to rack up a fifth win on the trot against Granada on Wednesday night.
Real Madrid’s form on home turf at the Bernabeu has been slightly inconsistent but the recent wins over Atletico Madrid and Bilbao would have been a massive boost for morale.
Granada will make their way to Madrid in similar confident mood as the visitors have collected recent back-to-back wins against Elche and Real Betis respectively which would also have been a welcome boost for the away side following a worrying decline in results.
The visitors had previously endured a five-match sequence without a win in La Liga which included defeats against Real Sociedad, Real Valladolid and Celta Vigo along with picking up single points in draws with Levante and Huesca in 1-1 and 3-3 draws respectively.
Granada’s form so far this season has come in fits and starts though as their main problem has been their level of consistency and although their form at home has been impressive as they’ve lost just one on home turf at their Estadio Nuevo Los Cármenes, their results away from home have been less than convincing.
With just two wins out of their six away matches to date this term, this suggests that this upcoming trip to face joint league leaders, Real Madrid, may well be beyond Granada, especially given the fact that they’ve lost in each of their last 10 meetings on the trot against their hosts.