Atletico Madrid will be looking to build on their derby win when they visit Osasuna in the La Liga on Thursday. The hosts are attempting to avoid going five games in a row without winning in any competition.
Preview (Osasuna vs Atletico Madrid)
Osasuna has had a challenging start to the current season after finishing seventh last year. They made the Copa del Rey final, winning only two of their first eight games in all competitions. Los Rojillos started the month of September with consecutive La Liga defeats to Barcelona and Getafe. They drew with Sevilla last weekend in a disappointing home match. Only two of their 16 efforts were on goal. As a result, Jagoba Arrasate’s team dropped to 11th position in the La Liga standings. At this point, they are three points above the relegation zone and three points behind Thursday’s opponents. Atletico Madrid are now in fifth place.
Despite finishing last season with five home victories in their final six games, Osasuna’s early-season performance at Estadio El Sadar will be of concern to Arrasate as they have failed to win any of their first four home matches in all competitions, losing three times, and scoring just two goals. It may be difficult for Los Rojillos to achieve their first home victory of the new season on Thursday. They haven’t defeated Atletico Madrid at home since a 3-0 victory in February 2014. After beating Real Madrid 3-1 at home, they snapped a three-game losing streak to their city rivals. Atletico Madrid is in a good mood as they head to Estadio El Sadar.
Alvaro Morata and Antoine Griezmann scored twice in the first 18 minutes to give Atletico the lead. Toni Kroos’ beautiful goal 10 minutes before halftime gave Los Blancos hope. Atletico eventually hung on for an excellent derby victory to push into the top five of La Liga. Los Cochoneros did not take long to recover their two-goal lead after Morata scored just 30 seconds into the second half. Diego Simeone must now find consistency for his Atletico team. They achieved victories over Rayo Vallecano (7-0), Valencia (3-0), and Lazio (1-1) in their Champions League.
Team News
Jon Moncayola (foot) and Darko Brasanac (ACL) are expected to miss the game for Osasuna, and Unai Garcia (fitness) is questionable but will be evaluated before kickoff. Ruben Pena, Alejandro Catena, David Garcia, and Juan Cruz are anticipated to remain Arrasate’s starting back four, with Sergio Herrera likely to hold the goalkeeping gloves in place of Aitor Fernandez. While attacking trio Ezequiel Avila, Ante Budimir, and Johan Mojica might all keep their spots in the final third, Raul Garcia and Kike Barja will also be hoping to force their way into the starting XI.
Thomas Lemar (Achilles), Pablo Barrios (foot), Caglar Soyuncu (hip), Rodrigo De Paul (muscle), Reinaldo, and Vitolo (both knee) are all out due to injuries, which Atletico Madrid is still having to deal with. A second start in center-midfield for the captain Koke, 31, might be in the cards after he overcame a hamstring injury to start and play the opening 45 minutes against Real Madrid. However, he will have competition from Axel Witsel to start alongside Marcos Llorente and Saul.
Memphis Depay’s recovery from a muscle injury to play as a substitute for Atletico last weekend was also encouraging. A start on Thursday, though, appears improbable in light of Morata and Griezmann’s outstanding outings in attack last time around. On Thursday, Atletico Madrid will be seen as the clear favorite to win and has every reason to feel confident about earning all three points against an Osasuna team that has struggled to find its rhythm so far this season. We anticipate Atletico’s in-form attackers to have more success in the final third at Estadio El Sadar. Only Barcelona and Girona (both 16) have scored more La Liga goals than Atletico (13) thus far this season.
Osasuna 0 – 2 Atletico Madrid
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