Real Madrid will be aiming to stretch their winning run across all competitions to six matches when they play host to Granada in the Spanish capital on Wednesday evening.
Los Blancos find themselves level on points with La Liga table-toppers Atletico Madrid after beating Eibar, while Granada moved up to sixth with victory over Real Betis at the weekend.
Match preview
© Reuters
The pressure on Zinedine Zidane's shoulders has certainly been eased in recent weeks, with Real Madrid finally playing like a side with ambitions of a second successive La Liga crown.
The Spanish champions eased to their fourth top-flight victory on the bounce on Sunday with a 3-1 triumph at Eibar, who notched up a consolation goal through Kike Garcia as Karim Benzema, Lucas Vazquez and Luka Modric found the back of the net for Real.
Zidane has also led his team to crucial league wins over Sevilla, Athletic Bilbao and title rivals Atletico Madrid this month, with Real Madrid yet to drop points in December despite failing to win any of their La Liga matches in November.
Los Blancos have quickly risen up the table and now boast the same points total (29) as current leaders Atletico, but Diego Simeone's men do have two games in hand over their fellow capital outfit and boast a far better goal difference of +19 compared to Real's +11.
Zidane's men would therefore need an eight-goal swing in their favour this week to rise to the top of the rankings, but something has to give in Atletico's crunch match with Real Sociedad the night before, so Los Blancos could potentially find themselves down in third before they welcome Granada to the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano.
© Reuters
Granada have enjoyed an impressive winning run of their own in recent weeks, and Diego Martinez's side marched to their third triumph on the bounce in all competitions with a comfortable 2-0 win over Betis on Sunday.
A first-half double from the veteran Roberto Soldado propelled Granada to a routine win over Manuel Pellegrini's men, and this week's visitors now find themselves level on points with Barcelona as they gear up for their final away match of 2020.
Martinez's men have been handed a daunting Europa League last-32 clash with Napoli following their strong group-stage campaign, and as things stand, Granada are looking good for another season in continental competition, although seventh-placed Sevilla are only one point behind with a game in hand.
Granada also began their Copa del Rey campaign in perfect fashion with a 2-0 triumph at Tercera Division side San Juan last Thursday, but Martinez's men have only managed to win two of their last six La Liga away matches and will be fighting an uphill battle to make their trip to the capital count for something.
Furthermore, 16 of Granada's last 17 matches against Real Madrid have ended in defeat, with the Spanish champions aiming to win their 11th game in a row against Wednesday's visitors.
Real Madrid La Liga form: DLWWWW
Real Madrid form (all competitions): LWWWWW
Granada La Liga form: LLLDWW
Granada form (all competitions): LDDWWW
Team News
© Reuters
Real Madrid have no serious injury concerns heading into their final game of 2020. Eden Hazard did not play a part against Eibar due to his muscular problem, although the attacker is getting closer to a return.
Vinicius Junior and Isco also sat out the weekend win due to gastroenteritis and an ankle knock respectively, and while the duo have not been ruled out of this encounter, it would be a surprise to see them included given the plethora of options Zidane already has.
The Frenchman may be tempted to rotate given the quick turnaround in fixtures, with Federico Valverde and Marco Asensio potentially in line for starts on Wednesday, and the former is all but guaranteed to come in given Modric's recent injury.
On the other hand, Granada lynchpin Maxime Gonalons picked up his fifth caution of the season in the win over Betis and is suspended for this clash.
Gonalons's absence opens the door for Yan Eteki to come back into the midfield, but the likes of Victor Diaz, Angel Montoro, Neyder Lozano and Fede Vico are all missing.
Darwin Machis had to come off just after the hour mark at the weekend, meaning that Antonio Puertas could fill the void on the right-hand side against Los Blancos.
Real Madrid possible starting lineup:
Courtois; Carvajal, Varane, Ramos, Mendy; Casemiro, Valverde; Vazquez, Odegaard, Asensio; Benzema
Granada possible starting lineup:
Silva; Foulquier, Perez, Duarte, Neva; Eteki, Herrera, Milla; Puertas, Soldado, Suarez
We say: Real Madrid 3-1 Granada
Granada are sure to give it a real good go at the home of the champions, but it is extremely difficult to back against Real Madrid here. Even with the prospect of rotation amid a few fitness concerns, Zidane's men should have far too much quality for the visitors, and we expect the in-form Blancos to keep the pressure on Atletico with a straightforward victory on their own turf.
Top betting tip
Ben Knapton
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 Real Madrid win with a probability of 69.24%. A draw had a probability of 18.8% and a win for Granada had a probability of 11.95%.
The most likely scoreline for a Real Madrid win was 2-0 with a probability of 12.63%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (11.8%) and 2-1 (9.57%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (8.94%), while for a Granada win it was 0-1 (4.18%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with a 12.6% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 2-0 win for Real Madrid in this match.
