Given the winner of this tie can climb to the second place in La Liga standings, the match at Estadio Benito Villamarin is likely to bring us a lot of excitement. Both Real Betis and Atletico Madrid are essentially attack-minded sides, and neither team are expected to discard their attacking approach for this game.

Another amazing start for Real Betis

This time last season Real Betis were leading the La Liga title race after winning their first four league games, and los Verdiblancos are now enjoying another impressive start to the league campaign. This time, the 5-3 win over Athletic Bilbao at San Mames was followed by home defeat to Rayo Vallecano, but narrow wins over Real Valladolid and Espanyol gave the team a chance to climb to Champions League places after this match. Nothing has changed when team’s style of play is concerned, with Pepe Mel’s side playing attacking football in every single game, and such an approach has been producing excellent results. Club’s decision to keep hold of playmaker Benat could go a long way as the Spain international has already had his hand in four of the eight goals los Verdiblancos scored in the first four games. The hosts have some defensive worries before the clash with Atletico, but the attacking department is again at full strength.

Centre-back Paulao is sidelined with an ankle problem, but midfielder Ruben Perez has been cleared to play against his parent club.

Can anyone stop Atletico?

Atletico Madrid needed a lot of time to start playing to their potential, but once that has happened, los Colchoneros have been simply unstoppable. The team have performed remarkably well under Diego Simeone and they are currently on a 15-match unbeaten run. The team have no reason to worry about conceding goals when they have players like Falcao, Turan, Koke and Adrian up front, so there is obviously no reason to change their attack-minded approach. Having won last five games in all competitions, scoring no less than 17 goals in the process, Atletico can be trusted to score a couple at Estadio Benito Villamarin, even if top scorer Radamel Falcao Garcia fails to recover from an adductor injury. His replacement Diego Costa scored a brace in his only start this season, while bagging 10 goals in 16 La Liga games for Rayo Vallecano last term.

Falcao may not be risked as he battles an adductor injury, while Mario Suarez should replace Tiago in the centre of the park.

Verdict

Real Betis are full of confidence after winning three of last four games and they won’t be afraid to attack Atletico Madrid at their Estadio Benito Villamarin. Los Colchoneros, on the other hand, are scoring goals for fun, so betting on over 2.5 goals looks the right thing to do.

Our prediction: Over 2.5 goals

Odds: 1.91 (10/11)

Bookmaker: 188BET