Atletico Madrid vs Leganes 26/01/20

26 January 2020

Devastated by a shock Copa del Rey elimination to the lower-league outfit Leonesa, Atletico Madrid will hope to find a way to return to winning ways when they take on Leganes at the Estadio Wanda Metropolitano this weekend.

Atletico’s hopes of keeping the pace with Barcelona and Real Madrid suffered a huge blow last weekend when Eibar halted their three-game winning La Liga (LL) run with a comfortable 2-0 home win. But, Los Colchoneros will hardly get a better chance to bounce back than taking on a side they’ve beaten ‘to nil’ in each of their previous three top-flight home H2H meetings. Moreover, Diego Simeone’s men have won four of their last five LL home fixtures, with the sole exception of a 1-0 defeat to Barcelona. Also, 60% of Atletico’s total league points have come at the Wanda Metropolitano, where they’ve shipped just six LL goals, keeping five clean sheets in ten league fixtures so far this season. Although they are not exactly a devastating offensive force, the Madrid giants have still netted 14 of their total 22 LL goals at home (64%).

Meanwhile, the visitors have seen their four-game unbeaten league run (W2, D2) come to an end last time out, as they’ve succumbed 3-0 to Getafe on home turf. Probably the main reason Los Pepineros currently sit four points adrift of the safe zone is their disastrous away form. They are one of just two sides that have yet to pick up a single away win this campaign (D4, L5), drawing a blank in four of nine LL road trips so far. Indeed, no team has scored fewer away goals than Leganes (6), with 67% of them coming inside the first 45 minutes. Leganes’ defensive game can’t encourage the traveling fans either, considering Javier Aguirre’s players have yet to keep a clean sheet away from home this term.