Prediction: Real Sociedad vs Atletico Madrid

21st November 2010

High-flying Real Sociedad are looking to make amends for the defeat at Hercules last week as they prepare to host Atletico Madrid, the team that have shown a real dip in form following a promising start to the season. With just one point separating the two sides in La Liga standings, the fans at Anoeta should be in for an entertaining match on Sunday evening.

Fresh from winning the Segunda Division, Real Sociedad were eager to create a team capable of surviving in the top flight and they seem to have done that with minimal investment. Joseba Llorente and Raul Tamudo brought much needed La Liga experience to the side, while Jeffrey Sarpong and Sutil added more quality to the side that dominated the second division. Real Sociedad needed some time to gel so it was little wonder that the starting results were far from impressive, but they have since stepped up a pace and climbed to 8th place in the standings, mostly thanks to their home record of 4 wins and just 1 defeat. The hosts now face a difficult job against Atletico Madrid, so they would probably be satisfied even with one point from this game. Coach Martin Lasarte will have full squad to choose from after Joseba Llorente and David Zurutuza returned into contention.

Atletico Madrid were expected to build on their good start of the season that included the victory over Inter in European Super Cup, but while the team continued playing well at their Vicente Calderon, their away performances left a lot to be desired. A team supposed to be fighting for the top 4 finish have got to bring points from the travels and that is something Atletico were not able to do. In all fairness, after beating Athletic Bilbao away, los Colchoneros played Valencia, Sevilla, Villarreal and Real Madrid away from home, so the difficult fixture list could be one of the reasons for such a poor record on the road. The 3:0 victory over Osasuna last weekend served as a big confidence boost before this very important game, so the visitors are hoping they’ll be able to bring all three points from Anoeta. Sergio Aguero is expected to start after overcoming a thigh problem, but Sergio Asenjo, Diego Godin and Borja Gonzalez remain sidelined.

Conclusion

Real Sociedad have become a real force to be reckoned with at their Anoeta and they have a good chance of picking up at least a point against Atletico. Los Colchoneros are far from impressive on the travels, although their form seem to be on the uptrend at the moment, so I can see them bringing one point back to Vicente Calderon. With both sides likely to be content with one point each, I recommend betting on draw.

Verdict: Draw (X)

Best Odds: 5/2

Bookmaker: Victor Chandler