Atletico Madrid will be looking to turn the new page at the start of the year as they finished the previous one in a catastrophic fashion.

Diego Simeone’s men lost four games on the spin in La Liga at the end of the last year. They dropped out of top-four in the league standings as a consequence.

The latest defeat came on December 22nd when Atleti fell 2-1 away at Granada. The lack of defensive meticulousness was the main source of problems for Atletico Madrid.

Diego Simeone and his troops are generally known for their defensive-minded approach, but they did not have one in the last month.

Atleti shipped at least two goals in each of the last four league outings. They will, however, have a nice opportunity to get straight back into the top-four on Sunday when fourth-placed Rayo Vallecano come to visit Estadio Wanda Metropolitano.

Rayo are enjoying one of the best top-flight campaigns in their history. They hold the sky-high 4th place thanks to a phenomenal home record of eight wins and a draw in nine matches in their own backyard so far in the season.

The story is much different on the road, though, where Andoni Iraola’s troops won just one and lost six of nine games this term.

Rayo took only one point form the last five away outings in the league. They shipped two or more goals in three of the last four affairs along the way.



译文(自动翻译仅供参考):

马竞将期待在年初翻开新的一页，因为他们以一种灾难性的方式结束了上一个赛季。

迭戈·西蒙尼的球队在去年年底的西甲联赛中输掉了四场比赛。因此，他们在联赛排名中跌出了前四名。

最近一次失利发生在12月22日，马竞在格拉纳达的比赛中以2比1败北。缺乏细致的防守是马德里竞技的主要问题。

迭戈·西蒙尼和他的部队以防守著称，但他们在上个月并没有这样做。

马竞在过去的四场联赛中都至少打进两球。然而，当排名第四的瓦列卡诺造访万达大都会体育馆时，他们将有一个很好的机会在周日直接回到前四。

拉约正在享受他们历史上最好的顶级赛事之一。由于本赛季迄今为止在主场取得的8胜9平的成绩，他们能够保持极高的第四名。

但在客场，情况却大不相同，安多尼·伊罗拉的球队本赛季只赢了一场比赛，输掉了九场比赛中的六场。

拉约在最近的五场客场比赛中只拿了一分。在过去的四场比赛中，他们有三场比赛打进了两个或更多的进球。