Atletico Madrid will be bidding to make it four La Liga victories in a row when they welcome Cadiz to Wanda Metropolitano on Friday night.
Diego Simeone's side are currently fourth in the table, level on points with third-placed Barcelona, while Cadiz occupy 18th spot, just one point behind 17th-placed Granada.
Match preview
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Atletico are not in a title race this season, with a total of 48 points from 27 matches leaving them in fourth position in the table, some 15 points behind division leaders Real Madrid, who are also now threatening to pull clear of Sevilla in second spot.
However, Simeone's team, despite some problems this term, are now level on points with third-placed Barcelona and will fancy their chances of securing a top-four finish despite the fact that Real Betis, Real Sociedad and Villarreal are close behind in the race for the Champions League spots.
Atletico have actually now won four of their last five in the league, including their last three against Osasuna, Celta Vigo and Real Betis, with the Red and Whites impressively bouncing back from their shock home reverse to basement side Levante in the middle of last month.
The capital giants cannot afford to take their eye off the ball in La Liga, but they have a huge match next week, travelling to England to face Manchester United in the second leg of their last-16 tie, with the contest delicately poised following a 1-1 draw at Wanda Metropolitano last month.
Atletico have again been strong in the league at home this season, picking up 27 points from 13 matches, but most of Cadiz's success this term has come on their travels, with the visitors to Madrid on Friday actually boasting the worst home record in Spain's top flight in 2021-22.
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Cadiz are battling for their lives towards the bottom of the table, with a total of 24 points from 27 matches leaving them in 18th position, but they will bring a four-game unbeaten run into this contest.
Indeed, the Yellow Submarine have not lost in the league since the start of February, drawing three straight matches against Celta, Getafe and Granada before recording a 2-0 win over Rayo Vallecano last time out.
Ruben Alcaraz and Oussama Idrissi scored the goals in the two-goal success on Sunday, with the result leaving them just one point behind 17th-placed Granada on the same number of matches, while they are only three behind 15th-placed Getafe, as the battle to avoid relegation to the Segunda Division continues.
Cadiz were excellent on their return to the top flight last season, finishing 12th, 10 points clear of the relegation zone, but they have certainly found it more difficult to compete during the 2021-22 campaign.
Sergio Gonzalez's side appear to be finding their form at a vital stage of the season, but they have not enjoyed their recent meetings with Atletico, conceding 12 times in the last three La Liga matches between the two sides, suffering defeats in all of those encounters, including a 4-1 reverse back in November.
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Team News
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Atletico's absentee list is substantial at the moment, with Sime Vrsaljko, Thomas Lemar, Angel Correa, Mario Hermoso, Stefan Savic, Geoffrey Kondogbia, Koke, Matheus Cunha and Daniel Wass potentially all missing this contest.
The team's injury problems are far from ideal ahead of the trip to Old Trafford next week, but Simeone cannot afford to rest his key players, so it is expected to be a similar side to the one that started at Real Betis.
Correa's absence will open the door for Antoine Griezmann to feature in attack, though, and Yannick Carrasco is also likely to be brought back into the starting side for Friday's contest.
Teenager Javier Serrano could also be in line for a spot in the middle of midfield for the home side.
Cadiz, meanwhile, could be without four players that started the win over Rayo last time out, with Alvaro Negredo, Alcaraz, Fede and Ivan Alejo all struggling with injury problems.
Alejo and Fede both had to be replaced against Rayo, while Negredo and Alcaraz have since reported issues, so Lucas Perez, Ruben Sobrino, Alex and Jens Jonsson could all earn spots in the starting XI.
Head coach Sergio is expected to stick with a 4-4-2 formation at Wanda Metropolitano, though, with Idrissi playing off the left and Anthony Lozano starting through the middle for the visitors.
Atletico Madrid possible starting lineup:
Oblak; Llorente, Felipe, Gimenez, Reinildo, Carrasco; Serrano, Herrera, De Paul; Griezmann, Felix
Cadiz possible starting lineup:
Ledesma; Akapo, Hernandez, Chust, Espino; Sobrino, Alex, Jonsson, Idrissi; Lozano, Perez
We say: Atletico Madrid 2-0 Cadiz
Atletico will again be missing a number of important players for this match, but Cadiz have injury problems of their own ahead of kickoff on Friday night. The visitors are certainly capable of making it an uncomfortable match for Simeone's side, but we are expecting the Spanish champions to secure all three points.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Atletico Madrid win with a probability of 69.81%. A draw had a probability of 19.6% and a win for Cadiz had a probability of 10.55%.
The most likely scoreline for an Atletico Madrid win was 1-0 with a probability of 14.65%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (14.57%) and 3-0 (9.67%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (9.07%), while for a Cadiz win it was 0-1 (4.56%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with a 9% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Atletico Madrid would win this match.
