Saturday’s hosts, Granada, seem to be stuck in something of a holding pattern in La Liga in recent weeks as the home side remain in 8th place in the Spanish top flight and now find themselves five points adrift of the top six.
The reason for Granada going nowhere fast in recent times is due to them managing to register just one win out of their last seven matches overall in La Liga, which came in the form of a 2-0 home win against bottom half outfit, Osasuna, but this has been Granada’s only highlight for a while.
🔜 Next match🆚 @Atleti ⚔️ #EternaLucha pic.twitter.com/0kSJRwrCRA— Granada CF ❤️⚪️ (@GranadaCdeF) February 9, 2021
🔜 Next match🆚 @Atleti ⚔️ #EternaLucha pic.twitter.com/0kSJRwrCRA
Three defeats and three draws have prevented Granada from making any impact upon the top six as defeats against Eibar 2-0, Barcelona 4-0 and a heavy 3-1 loss away at Osasuna have overshadowed points picked up in draws with Villarreal, Celta Vigo and Levante.
Overall though, it’s been a satisfactory season in La Liga so far for Granada, especially at home where they’ve suffered just two defeats to date at their Estadio Nuevo Los Cármenes, while also picking up notable victories over Athletic Bilbao and Sevilla.
Atletico Madrid’s impressive eight-match winning streak was brought to an end by a disappointing 2-2 draw at home with Celta Vigo, but nevertheless, this point extended Atletico’s unbeaten run in La Liga to nine matches.
The visitors hold a five-point lead at the top of La Liga over 2nd placed Real Madrid but a win on Saturday over Granada at the Estadio Nuevo Los Cármenes could see Diego Simeone’s side open up a commanding eight-point lead at the summit.
Atletico Madrid have every chance of achieving all three points on the road here too as the visitors have suffered just the one defeat on their travels to date this term, whilst winning seven out of their last eight matches away from home.
Diego Simeone’s side have also kept four clean sheets on the road this season too, while the bigger picture shows that Atletico Madrid have lost just once in their last 17 matches and have won their last four away on the trot.
In addition, Atletico Madrid hold a commanding record over Granada in previous exchanges, being unbeaten in each of the last 15 meetings and winning the last two encounters 6-1 and 1-0 respectively, so they look set for further success here.