Granada welcome travelling Atletico Madrid in La Liga on Saturday evening, as the hosts aim to continue their push away from the bottom of the standings following a tough start to the season.
As for Atletico, Diego Simeone's men have won their last three league fixtures and are seeking to keep the pressure up on leaders Barcelona.
Granada
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Granada come into this fixture as a club quickly gaining a reputation of being troublesome to get past this season.
Jose Ramon Sandoval's charges have lost just once in their last seven league fixtures, after managing to exit a torrid run of four straight defeats in La Liga.
Five of those seven games ended in draws, but Granada were able to pick up a promising 2-0 victory over Athletic Bilbao that will have boosted the club's confidence going into the colder months of the year.
Granada have recently shown that they are able to gather goals from all over the pitch when required, with the likes of Isaac Success and Jean-Sylvain Babin starting to find their feet again.
The club's difficult start to the season seems to finally be lifting and they now sit one place above the relegation zone, despite picking up just three points after their first six games this term.
Recent form: DDDLWD
Recent form (all competitions): DDLWDL
Atletico Madrid
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Atletico's consistency since being beaten by Villarreal in September has seen Simeone's men become the nearest challengers to oppose Barcelona's title push during the winter period.
Having lost to a solitary goal two months ago, Madrid are now unbeaten in seven league fixtures after producing five wins and two draws in La Liga.
Simeone will doubtless be pleased that his players responded to that loss by bouncing back to claim a draw against Real Madrid, while also going on to concede just two goals in the six fixtures that followed on from that point against their fierce rivals.
One thing that the club's coach might want to improve upon, however, is Madrid's threat going forward in their last few fixtures. Despite claiming nine points from nine, Atleti have not appeared the most threatening of sides and have won each of their last three games with slender 1-0 results.
Atletico will be pleased after having played with a weakened side that won at plucky Reus Deportiu in the Copa del Rey, and the Colchoneros will now be eager to take another three points away at Granada to stay in the hunt with Barca come the end of the weekend.
Recent form: WWDWWW
Recent form (all competitions): DWWWWW
Team News
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Granada are to be without the suspended Javi Marquez, but Ruben Perez is likely to return in the middle after completing a ban.
Rene Krhin has been carrying an injury to his ankle of late, although he is expected to sneak into the hosts' starting XI on Saturday evening.
Atleti will have Gabi available again following his suspension, but the club are without the injured duo of Tiago and Jackson Martinez.
It is thought that Fernando Torres should be able to hold off competition from Luciano Vietto in order to start alongside Antoine Griezmann and Yannick Carrasco.
Granada possible starting lineup:
Fernandez; Lopes, Lomban, Babin, Biraghi; Rico, Krhin, Perez; Success, El-Arabi, Ibanez
Atletico Madrid possible starting lineup:
Oblak; Juanfran, Godin, Gimenez, Luis; Níguez, Gabi, Koke; Carrasco, Torres, Griezmann
Head To Head
Madrid have enjoyed this fixture in recent times, given that Atletico have managed to produce five wins from their last six games against Granada. The teams last met during the La Liga campaign last term, where Granada were finally able to end a run of defeats by claiming a goalless draw at home in May 2015.
We say: Granada 1-3 Atletico Madrid
Granada's La Liga status looked in grave danger after a poor start, but they have slowly begun to turn things around having picked up some favourable points over the past two months. That said, Madrid are on a positive winning streak and they will be keen to make their recent dominance over Granada count by producing a victory that would keep them hot on the heels of Barcelona at the top of the standings.
Christopher Dodd
