Rayo Vallecano v Atletico Madrid Betting Tips [19 March 2022]

Atletico Madrid have a good chance to rise to third in the La Liga standings when they make the short trip to Rayo Vallecano on a weekend that also hosts the El Clasico. Going into this game, Atletico have 51 points, in fourth place while Rayo have 32 points and are in 13th place. Hosts Rayo are coming from a very poor run; they are winless in their last eight matches, losing six of them. Rayo have failed to score in four of those eight matches. In La Liga action, Rayo are winless in their last nine matches, losing seven, and with just five points collected from a possible 30 in the last 10 league matches, they aren’t really looking like a team to trouble Atletico. Even at home, they’ve struggled in the last few matches, coming into this on the back of five winless outings in the league at home, losing three and failing to score in those three.

Atletico Madrid go into this game on a high, coming from a 1-0 away win over Manchester United in the Champions League. They are also unbeaten in the last 11 matches against Rayo Vallecano and they won each of the last five. Ahead of this game, Atletico have really put in a great run and they have four straight wins and two clean sheets in that period. They haven’t lost in the last six matches and their last 10 games have had just two losses - against Barcelona and Levante. The Spanish champions’ scoring form has really improved as well; they have failed to score in just one of the last 10 and in seven of the 10 they have scored two or more goals. Atletico have a long injury list but they should still be able to cope here, especially with Rayo also missing a few key men, among them former Atletico man Radamel Falcao. 

Atletico have had an upturn in form and going into this game there is no doubting the fact that they are the favourites. Coming from a run of five wins in six matches and a dominant head to head record against Rayo, we will back Atletico to prevail here. They have a better scoring run too and we will back them to lead in both halves.