Sevilla vs Atletico Madrid

Sevilla and Atletico Madrid go head-to-head in a mammoth La Liga encounter at the Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán.

Sevilla needed a penalty shoot-out to oust lower-league outfit Andratx from Copa del Rey in midweek, so Julen Lopetegui’s men could be facing fatigue issues. In La Liga, though, since succumbing to a 2-1 defeat at Real Madrid in late November, ‘Los Rojiblancos’ have racked up a brace of 1-0 wins, both of which saw them lead at half-time. An air-tight defense has been the main ingredient of Sevilla’s eye-catching home form this season, as they’ve kept six clean sheets across their last eight league outings at Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán (W7, D1). They’ll need to muster that defensive prowess against an Atletico Madrid side they’ve defeated just once in their last nine top-flight H2Hs (D4, L4), courtesy of a narrow 1-0 triumph at this venue back in April.

Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid have failed to build on their nail-biting Champions League knock-out stage progression, falling to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of cross-town rivals Real Madrid last time out. As they now sit a staggering 13 points adrift of pacesetters Real, ‘Los Colchoneros’ face a genuine risk of falling out of the title race already in December. Diego Simeone’s men have lost their last two La Liga fixtures on the bounce, as many reverses as they suffered in their previous 23 in the competition (W14, D7). Another defeat here would see Atletico lose three La Liga games in a row for the first time under Simeone’s tenure. That prospect is not entirely out of the realm of possibility, considering the reigning Spanish champions have won none of their last three La Liga visits to Sevilla (D2, L1) despite conceding precisely once on each occasion.