This looks like an excellent opportunity for Atletico to end the poor league run as well as build on the impressive 3-1 Europa League victory over Besiktas. Granada, on the other hand, are slipping towards the dangerous zone and their losing run could easily continue at Vicente Calderon.

Atletico back to business

Even before Diego Simeone arrived to replace Gregorio Manzano, everybody knew that Atletico boasted one of the best squads in La Liga apart from the El Clasico rivals, but los Colchoneros largely struggled to prove their potential before the Argentine took over the reigns. Things have significantly improved since Simeone took over as Atletico are again playing with a lot of confidence and what is even more important is they are finally looking like a team rather than a group of talented individuals. Europa League victories over Lazio and Besiktas show how long the team have come over the last few weeks, while it is a matter of time before they came good in La Liga as well. Atletico have played some good football in the league of late, but they were very unlucky not to win any of their last five games. That looks set to change now that the players are high on confidence after the Besiktas victory, especially as relegation strugglers Granada will be on the other side.

With Silvio, Antonio Lopez, Diego and Arda Turan unlikely to feature, Diego Simeone is unlikely to make big changes to the side that beat Besiktas.

Seven players unavailable for Atletico game

Granada shocked everyone by gaining promotion to La Liga, but club chiefs wasted no time in trying to reinforce the squad for what awaited them in the elite division. Operating on a limited budget, the club management was forced to mostly sign players on loan or free transfer and it is no wonder they were unable to properly reinforce the squad. Numerous signings did improve the quality of the squad as witnessed by the fact that Granada are still above the relegation zone, but they may not stay there for much longer. Problems with injuries and suspensions have come at the worst possible time and seeing that boss Abel Resino doesn’t have such a big squad to choose from, nobody is surprised to see Granada struggling at the moment. Following back to back defeats to Osasuna and Valencia, el Grana are likely to face a tough task against in-form Atletico Madrid.

Guilherme Siqueira, Fran Rico, Dani Benitez and Francisco Jara are all suspended, whereas Roberto, Hassan Yebda and Pape Diakhate miss out through injury. Carlos Martins and Jaime Romero are injury doubts.

Verdict

It is high time Atletico returned to winning ways in La Liga and after beating sides like Lazio and Besiktas at home, los Colchoneros should be able to do the same against Granada. The visitors enter this game without seven first team regulars, meaning they should be happy if they manage to avoid a heavy defeat at Calderon.

Our prediction: Atletico with -1.5 Asian handicap

Odds: 2.02 (51/50)

Bookmaker: bet365