Atletico Madrid will be aiming to record their sixth La Liga victory in a row

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Atletico Madrid will be aiming to record their sixth La Liga victory in a row when they travel to Mestalla on Saturday afternoon to face Valencia. Diego Simeone’s side are currently second in the table, three points behind leaders Real Sociedad with two games in hand, while Valencia occupy ninth position in Spain’s top flight.

Five straight La Liga (LL) games that have seen both teams score, means Valencia have witnessed a league-high 70% of their fixtures feature over 2.5 goals, although that hasn’t helped them much in the win column (W3, D3, L4). In fact, in only two seasons since the turn of the century have Valencia lost more games at this stage than this term, which will no doubt be a worry as they take on a side, Atlético Madrid, that they’re winless against in 11 consecutive H2Hs (D5, L6).

Whilst the hosts have conceded an average of 1.6 goals per LL home game, they remain unbeaten in four of five matches played here (W2, D2, L1), despite scoring the opener in just two home games. However, it’s their come-back-ability that has shone through, as no LL team has won more points (eight) from losing positions than Valencia this season (home/away).

Yet even the hosts might not survive an Atlético opener, considering the visitors possess the best defence across Europe’s top five divisions after conceding an average of just 0.25 goals per LL match. That defence helped Atléti to a 1-0 win over Barcelona in their last league outing, in turn extending their club record unbeaten LL run to 24 games (W15, D9) – the fourth-longest streak in the tournament’s history.

Clinical Atlético have capitalised at all opportunities this season, netting a league-high three goals from goalkeeper errors alone. However, two consecutive two-goal margin wins on the road this LL campaign – both of which they led at HT – shows it isn’t luck that’s driving this team’s early title charge.

Date: 28/11/2020
Time: 18:15
Venue: Estadio de Mestalla (Valencia)
Pick for this match:
“Under2.5” – @ 1.74 ( betwinner )