One of the biggest fixtures in the Spanish football calendar takes place this weekend as the Madrid derby sees Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid do battle in the Spanish capital.

Unlike in most recent seasons, only one of the Madrid teams is in the battle for the title and even that is going to be a tough ask. Real Madrid are currently eight points behind Barcelona. The leaders also no longer need to contend with European football after being knocked out of the Europa League by Manchester United.

As for Atletico Madrid, it has been a season to forget. They sit fourth in La Liga, ten points behind their city rivals. They also finished bottom of their Champions League group which was far from expected. Ensuring Champions League qualification is the aim for the season now.

Here is all you need to know about the upcoming clash.

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Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid H2H Results (Last Five Games)

Current Form (Last Five Games)

Real Madrid: WWWWW
Atletico Madrid: LWDWW

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Real Madrid team news

It seems likely Real Madrid will be without two players for the visit of their city rivals. Ferland Mendy is still out with a hamstring problem and backup forward Mariano Diaz is not expected to make his return.

The good news is that Aurelien Tchouameni has recovered from the flu that kept him out of the Liverpool clash in midweek and he is a contender to start the game. David Alaba and Rodrygo were casualties of that match though and they have been ruled out of the clash.

That opens the door for Nacho Fernandez to come into the team at left back.

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Real Madrid predicted lineup (4-3-3): Courtois; Carvajal, Militao, Rudiger, Nacho; Camavinga, Tchouameni, Kroos; Valverde, Benzema, Vinicius.

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Atletico Madrid team news

There are two notable absentees for Atletico Madrid coming into this huge game and they are Rodrigo De Paul and Thomas Lemar. The former is out with a muscular problem that was picked up in the most recent match against Athletic Club.

For Lemar, there appears to be no hope he will make his recovery to play against Real Madrid. Stefan Savic is making his return from suspension and could take the place of Jose Maria Gimenez in the backline. There is also talk that Alvaro Morata will be handed a start by Diego Simeone.

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Atletico Madrid predicted lineup (4-4-2): Oblak; Molina, Savic, Hermoso, Reinildo; Llorente, Barrios, Koke, Carrasco; Griezmann, Morata.

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Atletico Madrid are pretty clear underdogs in this Madrid derby. The gap is wider this season than it has been in recent years and it would take a superb display for Simeone’s team to take all three points.

Real Madrid may have been in action at Anfield in midweek but they have a deep squad and are in a very good run of form. They will back themselves to win the title still and in order to do that, there can be no more mistakes.

Prediction: Real Madrid 2-0 Atletico Madrid