Next Sunday, 8th of March 2015, the current Spanish champions, Atlético Madrid, will measure forces with a super motivated Valencia at Vicente Calderon for round 26 of the Liga BBVA, on a decisive match for both sides, who are having a very interesting battle for the third place of the league table.

It is fair to say that Atlético Madrid are not going through the best of moments currently. Just two wins in their last five official matches is not a very good record for a team that dazzled European football last season. After their historical home win over their neighbours and rivals of Real Madrid early in February, Atlético have never managed to find themselves again and initiated a fairly poor run of results, combined with several less impressive performances.

Last weekend, Atlético have failed to get anything better than a draw from their difficult travel to Sanchez Pizjuan. Los Colchoneros were somewhat lucky to get away with a point from that particular clash, since their opponents Sevilla appeared to be fairly more dangerous for large periods of the match. Atlético collected no more nor less than seven yellow cards during their clash at Andaluzia and, because of that card frenzy, they will not be able to rely on the contribution of Antoine Griezmann and Miranda for the upcoming clash against Valencia.

Los Colchoneros’ head coach, Diego “El Cholo” Simeone, will need to put up something very special to overcome a well organized Valencia that keeps proving this season that they are very far from being pushovers.

As for Valencia, Los Che are, by all means, a more solid and consistent team than they were last term and their new manager, Nuno Espirito Santo, is the one to blame. The Portuguese young manager, who has only arrived at Mestalla last Summer, carried on a silent revolution in the team and Los Che are now one of the most impressive teams not only at La Liga but also at European football.
Last weekend, Valencia didn’t give Real Sociedad any chance at Mestalla and sealed their 16th win of the season, the fourth in a row at La Liga.

For the upcoming difficult clash at Vicente Calderon, Nuno Espirito Santo is not yet certain if he will be able to rely on the services of the Argentinean centre back Nicolas Otamendi, who is still recovering from his recent injury.

It is hard to name any favourites for next Sunday’s match between these two Spanish powerhouses, although, since they are playing at home in front of their enthusiastic supporters, Atlético enjoy from a slight favouritism.

Atlético Madrid

Stats: W-2 L-2 D-1

Recent Form - DLWLW

Valencia

Stats: W-5 L-0 D-0

Recent Form - WWWWW

Possible Line-ups

Atlético Madrid (4-4-1-1) - Moya - Juanfran - Gamez - Miranda - Giménez - Suarez - Gabi - Turan - Koke - Raul Garcia - Mandzukic

Valencia (4-3-3) - Diego Alves - Barragan - Gayá - Otamendi - Mustafi - Javi Fuego - Parejo - Enzo Perez - Rodrigo - Piatti - Negredo

Prediction

Atlético Madrid 1 Valencia 1