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An eighth win from the past nine league games is within Atlético Madrid’s grasp when they visit Villarreal on Sunday night.
Atlético have not won at La Cerámica in nearly three years, but on current form, Atleti could be primed to snag three points and keep a strong grip on second place. Los colchoneros have averaged nearly three goals per over the past five in LaLiga, while Villarreal have wobbled of late — the Yellow Submarine have lost two of the past three at home and have just two wins from the past six overall.
| CONVOCATORIA
— Atlético de Madrid (@Atleti) March 17, 2018
Descubre la lista de @Simeone para el #VillarrealAtleti #AúpaAtleti pic.twitter.com/6OcNFeCdtB
Lucas Hernández will get the nod at left back as Atlético begin life with Filipe Luís following the Brazilian’s season-ending leg injury. In more positive news, Jan Oblak trained normally this week and will be back in goal after Axel Werner started at Lokomotiv Moscow on Thursday. Stefan Savić is fit again too after a six-month spell on the sidelines, but José Giménez is not expected to lose the starting place he earned in the Montenegrin’s absence. Niggling maladies kept Diego Costa and Kévin Gameiro out of Atlético’s win at Lokomotiv, but both are in the squad and the former is slated to start alongside Antoine Griezmann.
Possible XI
Oblak; Vrsaljko, Giménez, Godín, Lucas; Gabi, Thomas, Saúl, Koke; Griezmann, Costa.
Predicted scoreline
Villarreal 1-1 Atlético Madrid.
How to watch
Date: March 18, 2018
Location: Estadio de la Cerámica, Villarreal, Castellón, Valencia, Spain
Kickoff time: 18:30 CEST, 17:30 GMT/BST, 1:30 p.m. EST, 10:30 a.m. PST
SB Nation opposition blog: Villarreal USA
Available TV/streaming: beIN LaLiga (Spain), Sky Sports Football, NOW TV (United Kingdom), beIN Sports en Español, fuboTV (United States), beIN Sports 2 (France), PPTV Sport, QQ Sports Live (China)
For more listings, head over to livesoccertv.com.