Sevilla vs Atletico Madrid Predictions

• Atletico Madrid are looking to bounce back from their midweek home loss to Athletic Bilbao
• Sevilla have lost three of their last four La Liga home games
• Atletico have kept clean sheets in all four of their away La Liga wins this season

Take Atletico to bounce back against struggling Sevilla

Diego Simeone will expect to see a reaction to Wednesday’s Copa del Rey defeat to Athletic Bilbao when his Atletico Madrid team take on stumbling Sevilla at Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan this weekend.

Atleti’s 28-match unbeaten record at home was ended by the Basque outfit, who converted a first-half penalty and clung on to claim a 1-0 first-leg lead in the semi-final. The tie has not yet been put to bed by Bilbao, however, and the Mattress makers should spring back into their usual winning routine on Saturday night against a team they have beaten in each of the last four competitive meetings.

Atleti’s away form may be the reason why they are not closer to rivals Real at the top of the table, but Sevilla’s struggles are much more concerning and the noises coming out of the home camp are getting less encouraging.

Public dressing downs could be counter-productive

Less than a fortnight after warning new loan signing Hannibal Mejbri that he would not be selected until he learned to ‘apply himself’, coach Quique Sanchez Flores has launched another broadside at two more of his squad. He questioned the commitment of Rafa Mir and Adnan Januzaj, wondering if they have what it takes to play for Sevilla in the wake of Monday’s win at Rayo Vallecano, during which he lost two other first-teamers to injury.

Simeone’s troubles pale into insignificance by comparison with only the ongoing injury to Jose Gimenez denying the Atleti coach one of his first-choice defenders, but the form of Memphis Depay provides a positive dilemma as he pushes to start alongside either Antoine Griezmann or Alvaro Morata.

The visitors should have too much defensive nous and firepower for the hosts and it may be worth siding with Simeone’s side to win 2-0, a repeat of last season’s scoreline in the corresponding game. Sevilla have failed to score in two of their last four La Liga matches at home and shipped an average of 2.25 goals per game during that run.