Atletico Madrid will be looking to extend their advantage at the top of the La Liga table when they travel to second-placed Real Sociedad on Tuesday night.
Diego Simeone's side are currently top of the division, three points clear of Sociedad, while the capital giants incredibly have three games in hand over the team directly below them.
Match preview
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Sociedad have made an excellent start to the 2020-21 campaign, picking up 26 points from their 15 La Liga matches to sit second in the table, three points below Atletico, although they have also played three matches more the capital giants and will not enter this game in the best of form.
Imanol Alguacil's side have actually lost their last two in the league to Barcelona and Levante, while they are without a victory in Spain's top flight since a 1-0 success at Cadiz on November 22.
There is a strong chance that Sociedad will be in third position by the time that kickoff arrives for this match as Real Madrid face Eibar on Sunday night and would jump a space if they avoid defeat.
La Real finished sixth in La Liga last term and have not claimed a top-four spot since 2012-13, meaning that it would go down as a brilliant campaign if they were to end the season in the Champions League positions.
The Whites and Blues actually picked up a point when they travelled to Atletico last season, while they recorded a 2-0 victory when the two teams locked horns in the corresponding match in September.
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Atletico, meanwhile, managed to bounce back from their 2-0 defeat to Real Madrid by recording a 3-1 home victory over Elche on Saturday, with Luis Suarez and Costa both on the scoresheet.
The derby loss was a huge disappointment for Simeone's side, but they have otherwise been excellent in the league this season, winning nine, drawing two and losing one of their 12 matches to collect 29 points, which has left them three points clear at the top of the table.
The fact that Sociedad are three points behind and have played three games more is an indication of their strength at the summit, and a win over the Basque club on Tuesday night would lead them nicely into their final La Liga game of the year at home to Getafe on December 30.
The issues facing Barcelona and Real Madrid have led to many branding Atletico as the favourites for this season's title, and it is difficult to back against the Red and Whites, who have conceded just five times in their 12 league matches.
Simeone's team have actually not lost in the league to a team other than Real Madrid since January 18, but the capital side have only beaten Sociedad once in La Liga away from home since October 2015.
Real Sociedad La Liga form: WDDDLL
Real Sociedad form (all competitions): DDDDLL
Atletico Madrid La Liga form: WWWWLW
Atletico Madrid form (all competitions): DWWLWW
Team News
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Sociedad's injury list is fairly substantial at the moment, with Adnan Januzaj, David Silva, Aritz Elustondo, Mikel Oyarzabal, Jon Guridi, Asier Illarramendi, Miguel Moya and Luca Sangalli all missing against Levante.
David Silva has a chance of featuring against Atletico, but it is expected to be largely the same squad from Saturday's defeat, meaning that head coach Alguacil does not have many options for change.
That said, Robin Le Normand, Nacho Monreal and Willian Jose could all come into the XI, but Martin Merquelanz should keep his spot in the final third of the field due to the club's injury situation.
Atletico will again be without the services of Hector Herrera through injury, while Jose Gimenez remains a doubt with a thigh problem, and there is also a concern over Joao Felix.
Costa made his return from injury against Elche on Saturday, but the Spain international is expected to be on the bench once again, with Angel Correa expected to replace Felix if the attacker is unable to recover from a rib problem in time for the contest.
Simeone is expected to shuffle his pack from the side that started against Elche, with Saul Niguez and Felipe in line for starts, meaning that Renan Lodi and Thomas Lemar could drop out of the XI.
Real Sociedad possible starting lineup:
Remiro; Gorosabel, Zubeldia, Le Normand, Monreal; Merino, Guevara, D Silva; Portu, Willian Jose, Merquelanz
Atletico Madrid possible starting lineup:
Oblak; Trippier, Savic, Felipe, Hermoso; Llorente, Koke, Saul, Carrasco; Suarez, Correa
We say: Real Sociedad 0-1 Atletico Madrid
Sociedad's injury problems are a concern, and it is very difficult to back against Atletico due to their excellent form this season. We are expecting a close game on Tuesday evening but believe that the visitors will just have enough to claim a very important three points.
Top betting tip
Matt Law
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Atletico Madrid win with a probability of 40.02%. A win for Real Sociedad had a probability of 33.45% and a draw had a probability of 26.5%.
The most likely scoreline for an Atletico Madrid win was 0-1 with a probability of 10.41%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.53%) and 0-2 (7.03%). The likeliest Real Sociedad win was 1-0 (9.34%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.61%). The actual scoreline of 0-2 was predicted with a 7% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Atletico Madrid would win this match.
