Atletico Madrid welcome city rivals Real Madrid to Estadio Wanda Metropolitano on Saturday evening in the first El Derbi showdown to be staged at their plush new 68,000-capacity home.
The sides head into the 161st league instalment of this fixture locked on 23 points apiece, already eight adrift of leaders Barcelona who have made a near-perfect start.
Atletico Madrid
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Should Atletico avoid defeat to their neighbours this weekend, it will mark their longest unbeaten run to start a league campaign, but that does not quite tell the whole story.
Under a transfer ban and unable to freshen up their squad until January, when Diego Costa and Vitolo will both arrive, Los Rojiblancos appear to have stagnated somewhat and are currently languishing in fifth after drawing five of their 11 matches thus far.
Being one of three unbeaten sides in the division is all well and good, though Diego Simeone knows that his side quite simply have to start putting away their chances to kill games off, or else it could be another season of frustration for the 2014 champions.
Atleti have won just two of their last nine games in all competitions, scoring seven goals during that run and never more than once in a single match, leaving them at risk of being caught by a clutch of top-four chasers and on the brink of an early Champions League exit.
The home European tie with Qarabag FK last month arguably epitomised Atletico's season more than any other game so far, as they created ample opportunities to win but struggled to find a way through, eventually having to settle for yet another draw - their ninth in 16 matches overall.
As many fans feared, the move to a new home is likely to cost Los Rojiblancos a number of points across the duration of the campaign, with Villarreal and Barcelona both scoring inside the final 10 minutes here in recent weeks to snatch a point, prior to the hugely disappointing Qarabag stalemate.
Atletico's start to the season has been far from disastrous, however, as they still remain in the mix at the top end of the division and are level with Real on points, but the mood around the Metropolitano may well change depending on Saturday's outcome.
Club president Enrique Cerezo recently claimed that Simeone is "untouchable" at Atleti, amid suggestions that their football is perhaps becoming a bit stale, though another string of underwhelming results could see the pressure grow on the Europa League, Copa del Rey and La Liga-winning manager.
Recent form in La Liga: WDDWDW
Recent form (all competitions): DWDDDW
Real Madrid
© Offside
Approaching two years on from Zinedine Zidane's appointment as Madrid manager, the Frenchman can still hold claim to winning more trophies during his senior management career than La Liga games lost.
With seven major honours under his belt, most recently becoming the first boss of the Champions League era to win back-to-back European crowns, it seemed unlikely that his credentials would ever truly be questioned at the Bernabeu.
Three months into the 2017-18 campaign, however, and we have already witnessed the first murmurs of discontent, having lost three and draw two of their 15 matches in all competitions.
The Spanish and European champions may have returned to winning ways before the two-week hiatus with a 3-0 win over Las Palmas, but Los Blancos are already playing catch-up after slipping up in home games against Real Betis, Levante and Valencia in the early stages.
More crushing than those results, though, was the back-to-back defeats at the hands of Girona and Tottenham Hotspur in the space of a few October days, rocking the boat and giving Zidane more than a few questions to answer.
Zidane denied that his side were facing a "crisis" heading into the Las Palmas match, although anything other than a comfortable victory tends to lead to a full-blown meltdown in the world of Madrid, putting the pressure on the former Ballon d'Or winner to make things right.
Two weeks away from the spotlight may well have done Real the world of good, heading into what is a congested period in their campaign as they have six league games, two Champions League outings, a Copa del Rey clash and the Club World Cup to prepare for before the winter break.
The last of those matches is against league leaders Barcelona on December 23 which, should results continue to go wrong between now and then, may well be a make-or-break clash for Zidane. Anything less than three points this weekend, meanwhile, and back-to-back titles may already be out of the question way before that El Clasico showdown.
Recent form in La Liga: WWWWLW
Recent form (all competitions): DWWLLW
Team News
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Filipe Luis has returned to full fitness for the home side and is likely to get the nod ahead of Lucas Hernandez at left-back, while creative midfielder Koke has used the two-week break to put his injury woes to one side.
Simeone has a decision to make over who to partner Antoine Griezmann with up top, with Angel Correa likely to be preferred to Kevin Gameiro, and Yannick Ferreira Carrasco is also expected to return to the squad.
The key to victory for Los Rojiblancos may well be Griezmann returning to form, having gone seven matches at club level since last finding the net - his longest such run since joining the club from Real Sociedad in 2014.
In terms of the visitors, their own star man has also struggled for goals in La Liga as forward Cristiano Ronaldo has just one for the campaign.
Ronaldo has netted 17 times in 23 meetings with Atleti since Simeone took charge of the club, though, including a treble in this fixture last season, and he will fancy his chances of hitting the ground running when club action resumes.
Isco leads the scoring charts for the champions and will surely start behind front-two pairing Ronaldo and Karim Benzema after shaking off a knock, while Kiko Casilla will continue in goal in front of Sergio Ramos and the returning Raphael Varane.
Atletico Madrid possible starting lineup:
Oblak; Juanfran, Savic, Godin, Filipe Luis; Koke, Gabi, Partey, Saul; Griezmann, Correa
Real Madrid possible starting lineup:
Casilla; Carvajal, Ramos, Varane, Marcelo; Modric, Casemiro, Kroos; Isco; Benzema, Ronaldo
Head To Head
Atleti will be hoping for a change of fortune at their new Metropolitano home, having lost the opening league derbies at the Estadio Metropolitano de Madrid and Vicente Calderon in 1929 and 1967 respectively.
Real have won more games against Atletico than any other team in La Liga history, coming out on top in 86 of their previous 161 meetings, and they also have more away wins (34) against their rivals than any other side.
Simeone's men won the most recent encounter 2-1 six months ago, but it was not enough to stop the reigning European champions progressing through to another Champions League final with a 4-2 aggregate success.
We say: Atletico Madrid 1-1 Real Madrid
Draw specialists Atletico are unbeaten in 15 league matches stretching into last season, and they have lost just one of their 16 matches in all competitions this term. One win in eight league derbies against their rivals, coming in the final game between the sides at the Vicente Calderon, further suggests that Real have their work cut out collecting the three points that they are after this weekend.
Daniel Lewis
