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Atletico is continuing to impress and it seems that this squad built in several years has reached its peak this season. Even with Falcao gone, David Villa is a competent replacement and the team gained power instead of losing it. Atletico barely lost the Supercup against Barcelona after 2 draws (1-1, 0-0), started with a win against Zenit in Champions League and is 5 for 5 in La Liga. They are tied with Barca for first place with maximum points and they are not looking likely to lose steam to soon.
The basque side of Osasuna lost almost all first team players in the transfer window and staying up this year is a rather SF task for them. The visitors got their first points of the season last round with a hard fought 2-1 win over newcomers Elche. It was far from being an impressive performance, as all of Osasuna’s games have been. Osasuna also has worrying team news to add to their misery: Torres, Cejudo, Flano, Nino and De Las Cuevas.
Atletico should eat Osasuna for lunch in theory but there is a catch here. The hosts will play Real Madrid over the weekend and even though manager Simeone said he is only thinking about this match, he also acknowledged that he will rest 4-5 players. But on the other hand new signing Toby Alderweireld could make his Primera Division debut today. Adrian is injured.
Atletico’s squad for the Osasuna match:
Goalkeepers: Courtois, Aranzubia
Defenders: Godín, Filipe, Alderweireld, Juanfran, Insúa, Miranda
Midfielders: Mario, Tiago, Koke, Raúl García, Arda, Cristian Rodríguez, Gabi
Forwards: David Villa, Diego Costa, Léo Baptistão
The Madrid side won both meetings last season, 3-1 at home and 2-0 away.
Even with a couple of changes to the team, Atletico is still way better than Osasuna. The match squad is very strong as it can be seen above. They will rest these 4-5 players but Osasuna also has 5 absences so things even out. Atletico has so much depth in the squad this year. If they are to meet their Top 3 ambitions, they know they can’t afford to drop points against arguably the weakest team in the league. Nothing less than another inspiring performance from Atleti is expected. They haven`t been shy with goals and they covered the spread in 5 of their 6 wins this season (La Liga + UCL). This game looks a little bit like the one against Almeria, when Atletico had a Champions League game at the horizon. They won 4-2 back then, and Almeria is way better than Osasuna. My call is Atletico – Osasuna 3-0.
Pick: Atletico Madrid (-1,75 Asian Handicap)
Odds: 1.87 @ Sbobet
Stake: 9
Possible profit: 7.83
Event date: 24 September
Editor Facts
- Ocean is 3 for 3 in La Liga this season
