After impressing in the opening round of the 2022-23 La Liga season, Atletico Madrid and Villarreal will look to pick up even more momentum in a head-to-head clash.
It was goals galore in this match-up last season as both league games ended 2-2. Will we see another high-scoring affair? Bookmaker William Hill has the odds at 2.10 for over 2.5 goals and at 3.50 for over 3.5 goals.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: August 19th, 8:00 A.M. (EST)
Atletico have a proud record to defend against Villarreal as they have suffered only one home loss against the Yellow Submarine over the past eight years. Diego Simeone’s men have limited Villarreal to just one goal in their last three visits to Madrid and getting things right at the back will be one of the keys to success again.
Los Colchoneros will look to make it two clean sheets on the bounce after opening the new league campaign with a nice 3-0 away victory against Getafe. Alvaro Morata grabbed two goals and Joao Felix bagged a hat trick of assists becoming the first Atletico player with three assists in a single league game since Gabi in 2011.
The young Portuguese ace hasn’t lived up to his huge €126 million price tag, but he had a strong finish to last season and seems to have carried the form into the new campaign. The 22-year-old has now registered six goals and five assists across his last 11 league appearances. He will be the guy to stop for Villarreal if the visitors want to get something out of the game.
The 2021 Europa League champions also kicked off their season with a 3-0 away win taking care of Real Valladolid. All the goals came in the second half and Alex Baena notched a late brace. Villarreal went on to beat Hajduk Split 4-2 at home in a Conference League outing on Thursday.
Manager Unai Emery will be very happy with the start after the squad went through a bit of an overhaul in the summer. A number of veterans left the club and youngsters like Baena are expected to step up.
Emery has a chance to reach a special personal achievement on Sunday. There’s a lot of history between him and Simeone as the pair clash for the 20th time on Sunday, but incredibly Emery has never managed to win against the Argentinian. His record against Simeone reads 11 draws and eight defeats. Before last season, Emery’s teams even went six straight matches without scoring against Simeone’s Atletico.
