Atletico Madrid will be aiming to make it three La Liga victories in a row when they continue their campaign with an away match against relegation-threatened Las Palmas on Sunday night.
Diego Simeone's side are third in the La Liga table, seven points behind the leaders Barcelona, while Las Palmas occupy 18th, one point behind 17th-placed Alaves in the battle to remain in the division.
Match preview
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Las Palmas have a record of seven wins, eight draws and 16 defeats from their 31 league matches this season, with a total of 29 points leaving them in 18th spot in the table, one point behind 17th-placed Alaves.
Pio Pio will enter this match off the back of a 3-1 victory over Getafe, which proved to be their first success since before the winter break, and it is now just one loss from their last four games in Spain's top flight.
Diego Martinez's side have two tough matches in quick succession, facing Atletico and Athletic Bilbao, and it would be a major boost to their hopes of survival if they could pick up some points from those two fixtures.
Las Palmas have goals in their team, with Fabio Silva and Sandro Ramirez netting 18 times between them in La Liga this term, while Oli McBurnie has now registered in his last two league games against Real Sociedad and Getafe.
La Union Deportiva actually beat Atletico 2-1 in the corresponding match during the 2023-24 campaign, but they suffered a 2-0 loss when the two teams locked horns for the reverse game in the Spanish capital earlier this season.
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Atletico will enter this match off the back of successive wins, beating Sevilla and Real Valladolid in their last two, with those results coming after a six-game winless run in all competitions, which had ended their hopes of silverware this season.
Simeone's side were knocked out of the Copa del Rey in the semi-finals by Barcelona at the start of April, while they were eliminated from the Champions League on penalties by bitter rivals Real Madrid last month.
Successive defeats to Getafe and Barcelona also proved very damaging to their La Liga title hopes, and Atletico are currently third in the table, seven points behind the leaders Barcelona with just seven games left.
The Red and Whites are comfortable when it comes to the top four, though, sitting 12 points ahead of fifth-placed Villarreal, and securing Champions League football for next season was the minimum requirement for this term.
Atletico have picked up 26 points from their 15 away league games during the 2024-25 campaign, and they will be heading to a Las Palmas side that have only collected 14 points from their 15 home league fixtures this term.
Team News
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Las Palmas will again be missing Benito Ramirez and Jasper Cillessen on Saturday due to injury problems, while Kirian Rodriguez is out for the remainder of the campaign, having suffered a cancer relapse towards the start of this year.
Head coach Martinez could name the same side that took to the field for the first whistle against Getafe, including positions for Sandro, McBurnie and Silva, who are all in strong form entering the final straight.
There is likely to be a change at right-back, though, with Marvin Park set to be introduced for Viti Rozada.
As for Atletico, Angel Correa is still suspended, while Samuel Lino and Rodrigo De Paul will miss the game through injury.
The capital giants have not reported any fresh concerns from their clash with Real Valladolid last time out, and head coach Simeone may decide to name an unchanged XI for the fixture with Las Palmas.
Alexander Sorloth is pushing to be introduced in the final third of the field alongside Julian Alvarez, but Antoine Griezmann is expected to keep his spot, while Koke is likely to again be the player to benefit from the absence of De Paul.
Las Palmas possible starting lineup:
Horkas; Park, Suarez, McKenna, Marmol; Munoz, Bajcetic, Essugo, Sandro; McBurnie, F Silva
Atletico Madrid possible starting lineup:
Oblak; Llorente, Gimenez, Lenglet, Galan; Simeone, Barrios, Koke, Gallagher; Griezmann, Alvarez
We say: Las Palmas 1-2 Atletico Madrid
Las Palmas will enter this match off the back of a morale-boosting victory, and we are expecting them to score on Saturday considering their talent in the final third of the field; Atletico, though, should be able to navigate their way to all three points.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Matt Law
