Almeria v Atletico Madrid – Betting Preview
Almeria Summary
Almería come into the game sitting just above the drop zone and finding their situation more a concern after recent results. The mood positive but the need for points is becoming greater with Almeria only two points now above the drop zone.
Almeria also suffered an embarrassing cup exit at the hands of a lower league club after the world cup break, so confidence is on the decline.
Rubi has no injury absences or bans; they are hoping that recent signing Luis Suarez is cleared to play having been awaiting paperwork all month.
Expectations are high the powerful striker can be a positive impact in the squad. Ramazani is the only very minor doubt, but Rubi said he believed the entire squad would be available for selection against Atletico Madrid.
Atletico Madrid Summary
Atletico Madrid has fallen away from leaders Real Madrid and Barcelona, now finding themselves in a testing race to stay in the top four and to make the champions league next season.
Joao Felix was moved away on a season-long loan to Chelsea midweek, and so their offensive strength is notably weaker for the second part of this season. This makes it a tougher campaign for Diego Simeone who was never an admirer of the highly rated attacker.
On top of this, there is increased stability as the boss is expected to leave the club at the end of this season.
Simeone has important absences too, mostly the case at centre back with Savic suspended and Gimenez unable to recover in time for the trip to Almeria.
Mario Hermoso returns from a ban but due to a lack of senior options, his centre-back partner will be Witsel for this match.
Betting Analysis
Looking at the 1×2 market first, where the favourite for this game is Atletico Madrid to win @ 1.74. Almeria are losing ground in the table and desperate for a positive result, they are @ 4.85 to win while a more realistic draw is @ 3.70.
Moving onto the Asian handicap market for this contest. Atletico Madrid are going to perhaps struggle to win this game as easily as the -0.75 handicap expects. Almeria has better team news and are arguably more need for the win. Atletico would need to get a victory by a two or more goal margin @ 1.97 for a full win. Almeria +0.75 will try to keep it close and score first, if they lose by just one then the punter only loses half of the stake. Almeria +0.75 is @ 1.95 and this is the preference.
Looking at The Under/Over market last of all which looks well set at 2.5. Over is priced @ 1.90 while the Under is @ 1.89. Atletico matches are rarely open and likely to become even less so without Joao Felix to be able to stretch opponent defences.
