It’s six straight wins for Atletico Madrid against this opposition

Atletico Madrid’s slim title hopes were boosted last weekend in La Liga, and they simply have to take care of business against bottom club Real Valladolid on Monday night.

Having seen their Champions League and Copa del Rey dreams crushed by some very fine margins, La Liga is all that Atleti have left, but they have some serious ground to make up on Barcelona and Real Madrid, after some damaging defeats last month.

They looked to be on course for dropped points again at Sevilla last time out, before Pablo Barrios fired in an excellent winner in the 93rd minute. Diego Simeone will be hoping that can prove something of at turning point, as his team now looks ahead to what is a very favourable run-in.

There’s little prospect of them slipping up against a Real Valladolid side that ranks among the worst to have ever graced the Spanish top flight. They’ve collected just one point from their last 11 matches, and things hit a fresh low last time out, as they lost 4-0 at home to Getafe, made even worse by the sight of two home players nearly coming to blows on the touchline in an angry confrontation.

It’s six straight wins for Atletico Madrid against this opposition. They won the title in Valladolid on the final day of the 2020/21 season with a 2-1 victory, while they scored five unanswered goals in the reverse fixture earlier this term.

Rodrigo De Paul is an injury doubt for the home team, so Koke could make a rare start in midfield. Samuel Lino is also a fitness concern heading into this.

As for the visitors, there’ll be at least one change after Mario Martin saw red against Getafe. Caretaker boss Alvaro Rubio may mix things up elsewhere too, as he bids to stop the rot.

Atletico Madrid: Oblak, Galan, Lenglet, Gimenez, Llorente, Gallagher, Barrios, Koke, Simeone, Alvarez, Griezmann.

Real Valladolid: Ferreira, Aznou, D. Torres, J. Sanchez, Candela, Juric, Nikitscher, Moro, Amallah, I. Sanchez, Sylla.