(Football news) Atletico Madrid are in deep trouble in their UCL group but when it comes to La Liga things aren't too bad. Atletico Madrid have won 3 consecutive La Liga games and 3 points behind 2nd placed Barcelona and 6 points behind leaders Real Madrid. A win against Rayo Vallecano will be a massive boost for Atletico Madrid. Rayo have had a decent start to the season as they are currently 10th on the table. The Madrid based club has already held Barcelona to a goalless draw at the Camp Nou this season and they will be aiming to do the same at the Wanda Metropolitano.

Diego Simeone finally reverted back to a 4-4-2 in the victory against Atletico Madrid and he is likely to continue with the same system. Atléti are still without Marcos Llorente, Sergio Reguilon and Felipe while Jan Oblak remains a doubt after he was substituted last week. Rayo Vallecano will be missing Ruben de Tomas and Andres Martin. Radamel Falcao who will be playing against his former club is likely to start up front for Rayo. It will be interesting to see if Simeone gives Joao Felix a start as he is too good a player to sit on the bench. 

Rayo Vallecano's last game was a goalless draw against Getafe which they should've won considering the amount of chances. This time around they will have to be more clinical as Atleti will not give them a lot of chances. Everytime it looks like Diego Simeone's cycle is coming to an end he manages to pull things. The Argentine desperately needs his team to turn up for the next couple of weeks and keep up with Barcelona and Madrid in the league and qualify for the UCL knockouts.

Also read: Benzema wins the Ballon D'or after legendary season with Real Madrid