Villarreal vs Atletico Madrid

Estadio de la Ceramica is the venue as Villarreal and Atletico Madrid go head-to-head in a mouth-watering La Liga showdown.

An overwhelming 5-0 home triumph over basement boys Levante at the beginning of 2021 bookended Villarreal’s run of four consecutive La Liga victories, all of which came by a 2+ goal margin. Notably, they have scored a staggering 15 goals across those four matches, only one fewer than in their opening 15 La Liga outings combined. ‘El Submarino Amarillo’ are now just five points adrift of fourth-placed Real Sociedad, meaning their top-four pursuit is very much on following a topsy-turvy first half of the season. However, Atletico Madrid’s visit to La Ceramica could throw a spanner in the works as Unai Emery’s men have failed to win any of their last seven top-flight H2Hs (D4, L3), their worst winless H2H run in the competition’s history.

Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid pulled off a comfortable 2-0 home victory over fellow top-four contenders Rayo Vallecano to paint the start of 2022 with flying colours. After ending a dreadful run of four consecutive La Liga defeats, ‘Los Colchoneros’ will now be aiming to avoid losing four top-flight away games on the trot for the first time since 2011. Despite carrying a reputation as one of Europe’s best defensive sides, Diego Simeone’s men have failed to keep a clean sheet in any of their last 11 La Liga travels, their worst such streak since 2010. Indeed, they have conceded 16 goals in their ten away league matches this season, already two more than they had in the whole of 2020/21 away La Liga campaign. But following a run of three consecutive top-flight losses at La Ceramica, the defending Spanish champions have gone unbeaten in their last three such contests in a row (W1, D2).