5 bold La Liga predictions: Espanyol and Sevilla draw in battle of the contenders

4. Griezmann continues goalscoring run in victory over Bilbao

Atletico continued with their struggles away from home in the last match as they drew with Leganes, who are currently in the drop zone. It was their seventh point in six away games as the famed Atletico defense continues to creak.

A slow start has seen them pick up 20 points in 11 games, but they’re only four points off Barcelona in first place as none of the Liga sides have started in red-hot form. Atleti are actually higher than the rest of last season’s top six, excluding Barcelona, which reflects how competitive the league has been so far. A win over Athletic Bilbao will see them claim second place for at least a day as well as ensuring they can take advantage of Espanyol and Sevilla playing each other.

Under Diego Simeone, Los Colchoneros have relied on a solid defensive platform to keep the opposition out and allow them to grind out wins. This has been a highly successful strategy as they’ve won La Liga once and reached two Champions League finals in that time, among other achievements. However, the core that brought that success is aging and the replacements are better suited to a different approach.

The rigid style they utilize limits them offensively by cutting out risks, so they’re stuck in an awkward situation which leads them struggling to put away weaker sides. A goalscoring drought for Diego Costa in the league, prior to his injury, certainly hasn’t helped. They’ve had 12 different goalscorers across all competitions, but Griezmann is the only one to score more than three goals. He has two goals in his last two games and they’ll be expecting him to be the difference against a poor Bilbao side.