Real Madrid will be looking to make it four straight wins in La Liga when they resume their 2020-21 campaign at home to newly-promoted Cadiz on Saturday evening.
Los Blancos currently top the table with 10 points from their first four league matches of the season, while Cadiz occupy ninth position with seven points from their five outings this term.
Match preview
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Madrid opened their La Liga season with a goalless draw at Real Sociedad on September 20 but have put three victories on the board since, overcoming Real Betis, Real Valladolid and Levante.
Not too much can be read into the league table at this stage of the season, but Los Blancos are leading from the front and will fancy their chances of putting another three points on the board this weekend.
It is a big week for Zinedine Zidane's side considering that they will open their 2020-21 Champions League challenge at home to Ukrainian outfit Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday before the small matter of a trip to Barcelona for the first Clasico of the season next weekend.
The financial impact of the coronavirus outbreak meant that it was a very quiet summer for the club, and there is a lot of pressure on the likes of Karim Benzema and Sergio Ramos to lead the team once again.
Madrid have not actually faced Cadiz since the 2005-06 La Liga season, and the capital giants won both games during that particular campaign, including a 3-1 success on home soil.
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Cadiz finished second in last season's Segunda Division to secure a return to this level of football for the first time since being relegated in 2006.
A busy summer window saw the likes of Alvaro Gimenez, Choco Lozano and Ivan Alejo arrive, while experienced striker Alvaro Negredo also joined the newly-promoted club on a free transfer.
Cadiz opened their La Liga campaign with a 2-0 defeat to Osasuna on September 12 before recording a 2-0 victory away to Huesca on September 20 to secure an important three points.
The team's second league defeat of the campaign arrived at home to Sevilla one week later, but they recorded an impressive 1-0 victory at Athletic Bilbao at the start of the month before picking up a point against Granada before the international break to move onto seven points, leaving them ninth in the division.
Real Madrid La Liga form: DWWW
Cadiz La Liga form: LWLWD
Team News
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Madrid will be without both Dani Carvajal and Alvaro Odriozola through injury this weekend, meaning that Nacho should again get the nod at right-back.
Eden Hazard is also still unavailable due to a muscular problem, with the Belgium international battling to be available for El Clasico at Camp Nou next weekend.
Eder Militao and Mariano Diaz are also both unlikely to be available, while Zidane will have to make a decision on the players returning from international duty.
Luka Modric could be rested, having played a lot of football for Croatia during the international break, meaning that Isco could earn a midfield spot alongside Toni Kroos and Casemiro.
Marco Asensio is also in line to feature in the final third of the field, with Vinicius Junior potentially being given the nod on the other side of Benzema. Thibaut Courtois, meanwhile, should be fit despite being forced to pull out of the Belgium squad ahead of the UEFA Nations League clash with England.
As for Cadiz, Luismi Quezada and Iza are both unavailable through injury, but Negredo and Carlos Akapo both served one-game suspensions against Granada and are now available for this match.
There are not expected to be too many surprises for the visitors this weekend, with Jorge Pombo and Salvador Sanchez likely to support Negredo in forward positions.
Real Madrid possible starting lineup:
Courtois; Nacho, Varane, Ramos, Marcelo; Kroos, Casemiro, Isco; Vinicius, Benzema, Asensio
Cadiz possible starting lineup:
Ledesma; Akapo, Mauro, Cala, Espino; Mari, Jonsson; Sanchez, Fernandez, Pombo; Negredo
We say: Real Madrid 2-0 Cadiz
Cadiz have impressed in the early stages of the 2020-21 campaign and picked up an excellent win at Athletic in their last away game on October 1. Madrid are the heavy favourites for a reason, though, and we expect Zidane's side to put a fourth straight La Liga victory on the board.
Top betting tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting under 3.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Under 3.5:dataData 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 Real Madrid win with a probability of 75.81%. A draw had a probability of 16.3% and a win for Cadiz had a probability of 7.88%.
The most likely scoreline for a Real Madrid win was 2-0 with a probability of 14.89%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (13.12%) and 3-0 (11.27%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (7.62%), while for a Cadiz win it was 0-1 (3.36%). The actual scoreline of 0-1 was predicted with a 3.4% likelihood.
