Atletico Madrid vs Valencia Betting Tips

These two finished 3rd and 4th last season with both clubs qualifying for the Champions League. Both were involved in that competition in midweek and both were victorious with Valencia beating Gent 2-1 at home while Atletico cruised to a 4-0 win over Astana at the Vicente Calderon.

Both clubs are well placed to qualify for the last 16 but with important league points at stake this a really big game. Atletico have made the stronger start in the Primera Division and are only 2 points off top spot. When you consider that after this game they will have already played all the other sides that finished in last season’s top six they can be pretty pleased with their points return and 3 points here would leave them well placed to threaten to break the Real Madrid-Barcelona stranglehold once more.

Valencia haven’t been at all convincing in the league and scored just 4 goals in their opening 7 matches prior to a much-needed 3-0 win at home to Malaga last time out. In contrast to Atleti they have had much more winnable fixtures and this is their first game against a side that finished in the top six last term so a return of 12 points from their opening 8 matches isn’t really what they were looking for.

Atletico have looked good going forward in the past few games with signs that Jackson Martinez and Antoine Griezmann are starting to form an effective partnership up front. Both were withdrawn early in midweek as Atleti cruised to a convincing win and should be fresh for this game.

Valencia have lost their last 2 away games in the league and went down 3-1 at Athletic Bilbao last time out. They might find Atletico’s strikeforce too hot to handle here and there is value in backing Atletico to score 2 or more goals in this game at 5/6.

It won’t be easy though and both managers will realise the importance of this game. Valencia at least seem to be over their goal drought so an away goal is a possibility but a 2-1 home win might be the way to go if you’re looking for a correct score bet at 8/1.