Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan is the venue as Sevilla and Atletico Madrid go head-to-head in a high-profile La Liga fixture.
Saturday’s encounter in Andalusia comes amid Sevilla’s slight upturn in form in what has otherwise been a thoroughly underwhelming start to the season.
After suffering four defeats in their opening five matches across all competitions (D1), Julen Lopetegui’s lads have been unbeaten in the last three (W1, D2).
Yet except for an eye-catching 3-2 win at Espanyol in early September, Los Rojiblancos have won none of their five remaining league games this term (D2, L3).
Sevilla’s sub-par performances have nailed them to the bottom half of the table, so the spirits in Lopetegui’s camp might be low coming into this blockbuster clash.
The Spaniard’s Atletico counterpart Diego Simeone cannot be happy with his team’s form early in the season either, with Los Colchoneros winning just three of their opening six La Liga outings (D1, L2).
With pacesetters Real Madrid already eight points clear, the visitors risk bowing out from the title pace already in the first half of the season unless they bounce back.
Indeed, a 2-1 home loss to Los Blancos on the stroke of the international break led ESPN to believe Simeone’s era at the Metropolitano Stadium could be drawing to a halt.
Match Preview
Sevilla
Owing to Sevilla’s equal-worst six-match start to a La Liga season in 20 years and their winless UEFA Champions League campaign so far (D1, L1), Lopetegui stands on the edge of a cliff.
Despite walking a tightrope, the Spanish manager can fall back on his side’s run of three wins and a draw across their last three league meetings with Atletico.
Desperate to nose ahead at home in La Liga for the first time this season, Sevilla have only scored once in their three competitive fixtures at Pizjuan thus far (D1, L2), losing the last two via 3+ goals ‘to nil.’
Atletico Madrid
Since their hosts are experiencing nightmarish times, Atletico will look to end a four-match winless league run against the Andalusian powerhouse (D2, L2) and reignite their faltering season.
However, Los Colchoneros have been prone to collapsing on their recent league travels to Andalusia, succumbing to two defeats in their last three such match-ups (W1).
Antoine Griezmann may have become a bit-part player in Simeone’s system, but his tally of four goals and three assists from five appearances against Sevilla at Pizjuan could secure him a rare start.
Sevilla vs Atletico Madrid Potential Line-ups
Sevilla (4-2-3-1): Bono; Marcos Acuna, Tanguy Nianzou, Nemanja Gudelj, Gonzalo Montiel; Fernando, Joan Jordan; Oliver Torres, Isco Alarcon, Alejandro Papu Gomez; Kasper Dolberg.
Atletico Madrid (3-5-2): Jan Oblak; Reinildo Mandava, Jose Maria Gimenez, Stefan Savic; Yannick Carrasco, Saul Niguez, Geoffrey Kondogbia, Koke, Marcos Llorente; Antoine Griezmann, Alvaro Morata.
How to Watch?
Sevilla vs Atletico, alongside all other matches in Spain’s elite competition this season, is available to watch live online via La Liga live streams.
Sevilla vs Atletico Madrid Prediction
With both sides struggling for goals, we expect this showdown to go down to the wire.
There’s a feeling that whoever scores first would eventually claim all three points, but it’s hard to tell which one has the capacity to do so.
Given Sevilla’s leaky backline, we’d give a slight advantage to Atletico.
Sevilla 0-1 Atletico Madrid
