Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid meet up for the first derby of the season on Sunday with the latter desperate for three points to close the gap in the La Liga table.
This will be a proper battle from start to finish and bookmaker 10Bet believes that Atletico will end up with the most bookings, offering odds at 1.54. The odds are at 3.40 for Real to pick up the most cards and at 4.95 for the two teams to finish with an equal number of cards.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: December 10th, 5:00 P.M. (EST)
Real enters the matchup in superb form. The team hasn’t lost a single outing since early October and they have racked up nine consecutive victories. Los Blancos also boast some really good numbers in the head-to-head meetings having last lost a league fixture to Atleti in 2016.
This season has all been about the partnership of Karim Benzema and Vinicius Junior, but Real’s defense deserves some credit as well. The team lost Raphael Varane and Sergio Ramos over the summer and there were some shaky performances at the back early in the campaign, but they have been rock-solid in recent months.
Carlo Ancelotti’s team is tied for the fourth-best defensive record in the league and they have recorded four clean sheets in their last five games across all competitions.
Atletico used to be in a league of their own when it came to defensive play, but they have already conceded 16 goals in 15 league matches this season. Diego Simeone’s men gave up only 25 goals in total during their title-winning campaign last season.
Jan Oblak is regarded by many as the best goalkeeper in the world, but the Slovenian has endured a rough time in 2021-22. Amazingly, he currently boasts the worst save percentage in the league among all goalkeepers having saved only 56.7 percent of the shots he has faced.
In his previous seven seasons at Atletico, Oblak has always produced a save percentage of 75 or better, and he’s saved over 80 percent of shots in four campaigns. Oblak really needs to pick up his game if Atletico wants to erase the major gap with Real.
On the offensive side, Simeone’s men have done just fine sitting on the second-best scoring record behind Real. Although their attack has just received a big blow with Luis Suarez exiting Tuesday’s 3-1 Champions League win over Porto with a muscle injury.
With Suarez out, a lot of the focus will fall on Antoine Griezmann. He led the charge against Porto with a goal and an assist, and the Frenchman has also enjoyed some fine form in the league lately with three goals and two assists in his past six games.
