High-flying Mallorca welcome Atletico Madrid to Son Moix on Wednesday, looking to continue their push for an unlikely top-half finish in LaLiga.
The hosts were excellent in a 2-0 dismantling of Villarreal on Sunday, while the visitors were frustrated once again, as they fell to a 1-1 draw with 10-man Espanyol.
Match preview
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Having avoided relegation by a singular point last season, Mallorca's shrewd work in the summer transfer window has had a transformative effect on the squad.
Experienced head coach Javier Aguirre has made the island side much tougher to beat this time around, with a switch to a five-man defence helping to get the best out of talented wide players.
At the top of the team, the permanent acquisition of Kosovan striker Vedat Muriqi has been one of the signings of the season, as the former Lazio frontman netted for a fourth game in succession against Villarreal before providing an assist for Amath Ndiaye to seal a clinical away performance.
Contributing to two-thirds of Mallorca's goals this season, the six-foot-four target man will surely be a handful once more, up against a side without a clean sheet in their last six, and against whom he scored a crucial winner in the relegation scrap last season.
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Atletico Madrid, on the other hand, just cannot seem to catch a break at the moment, as they made it four games without a win with a disappointing draw with Espanyol.
Diego Simeone's men played over an hour of the match against 10 men, yet still fell behind at the Civitas Metropolitano, as Sergi Darder threw himself at a looping cross to volley acrobatically past Jan Oblak.
Just days after a drab defeat to Porto sealed their place at the bottom of their Champions League group, Los Colchoneros fired 27 shots on goal against their depleted Catalan opponents, looking to Joao Felix once again to dig them out of trouble with a spectacular near-post finish.
Despite a disappointing slump, Atletico still find themselves third in LaLiga, level on points with Real Betis after their draw in the Derbi Sevillano, but 10 behind Barcelona at the top.
The capital side probably would not have picked a trip to Mallorca as the ideal fixture to get back up and running in LaLiga. Nonetheless, with five wins from seven on the road, perhaps they will be happy to be on their travels in their final game before the World Cup break.
Team News
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The hosts have a completely healthy squad in terms of injuries, as the impressive Kang-in Lee looks likely to continue up front with in-form Muriqi.
Marauding wing-back Pablo Maffeo will continue to serve his suspension after a straight red against Espanyol two weeks ago, while forward Dani Rodriguez picked up his fifth yellow card last time out.
For the first time in quite a while, Atletico Madrid also seem to be without any injury doubts for this game, with the likes of Yannick Carrasco and Marcos Llorente having fully overcome their recent setbacks.
Los Colchoneros do have suspensions to deal with, however, as crucial centre-back Jose Maria Gimenez, along with Joao Felix, will both be unavailable due to an accumulation of yellow cards.
Mallorca possible starting lineup:
Rajkovic; Costa, Copete, Raillo, Valjent, Gonzalez; De Galarreta, Babu, Sanchez; Muriqi, Lee
Atletico Madrid possible starting lineup:
Oblak; Reinildo, Hermoso, Savic, Molina; Lemar, Kondogbia, De Paul, Llorente; Morata, Griezmann
We say: Mallorca 1-2 Atletico Madrid
We are expecting an extremely tight game, as the in-form hosts battle it out with inconsistent, yet technically superior opponents.
We can certainly see Mallorca scoring, given the chaos that Muriqi's presence can often cause, but Simeone's men desperately need to snap their streak and have more than enough talent to do so here.
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