Playing to consolidate the vice-leadership of the Spanish Championship, Atletico Madrid receives this Sunday, February 4, Valencia. The game is part of the schedule of the twenty-second round of the 2017/2018 edition of LaLiga and will be played at the Wanda Metropolitano stadium in the Spanish capital. The kickoff is scheduled for 17:45.

The recent performance of Atletico Madrid

After three games without winning, two of them against Sevilla caused the elimination of Atletico of the King’s Cup, the team of the capital imposed its favoritism to Las Palmas in the day of number 21. In his stadium, beat the rival by 3 to 0.
Thus, he reached the mark of 46 points (13 wins, seven draws and one defeat). He thus increased his advantage over the second-placed finisher, just Valencia, who was thrashed by Real Madrid 4-1.
Maintaining this position seems to be the only viable goal for the team led by Argentine coach Diego Simeone. Barcelona are leading the Spanish Championship. He accumulated nine points more than Atletico Madrid.
To consolidate the position, the coach has doubts regarding the use of two of his attackers. Spanish national Diego Costa (two matches in the 2017/2018 Spanish Championship, one goal) and French Kevin Gameiro (13 matches, four goals) are handed over to the medical department. The first, with muscle injury, has lower chances of being released. The second had a stomach problem that took him away from the match against Las Palmas but should receive the green light from the medical department to face Valencia.
According to the Spanish press news, Brazilian left-back Filipe Luís (12 games, one goal) and Argentine midfielder Nicolas Gaitan (six games without a goal) must follow from outside.

The current form of Valencia

Valencia live their worst moment of the season. Lost the last four games. Two of them for the Spanish Championship and two for the King of Spain Cup. In that last competition, the first defeat was not even felt. The team took Alavés 2 to 1 in the quarterfinals, but ended up advancing in the penalty shootout.
The second was in the opening of the semifinals against Barcelona. In Catalonia, he lost 1-0 on Thursday, 1 February. Now, he will have to reverse the situation in his stadium to get a place in the tournament decision.
In the Spanish Championship, was beaten in Valencia by Real Madrid (4 to 1) and lost, as a visitor, by Las Palmas (2 to 1). Two very bad results. The first was against a direct rival in the fight for third place and direct vacancy in the group stage of the Champions League of Europe next season. The second against a team that is immersed in the relegation zone.

History of the matches Atlético de Madrid vs Valencia
The list of games in which Atletico Madrid is not beaten by Valencia reaches six. There were four wins and two draws. One such equality was precisely in the most recent confrontation. In the first round of the 2017/2018 season of the Spanish Championship in Valencia, the classic was 0-0.

Acting at home and presenting a more consistent system, Atletico is the best guessing option for the clash. It has a price of 1.45 in Bet365. Draw shows return of 4.33 and successful visitor yields 6.50 for each real invested. Quotes were in effect at 9:58 on 2/2/2018.