We saw increased focus and motivation from Deportivo yesterday and I expect a similarly inspired showing from another relegation threatened team this evening when Mallorca, just two points off the bottom of the table, host highflying Atletico Madrid.

They stopped the rot ahead of the mini break with a 2-1 win at Betis and that at least allowed them to enjoy the Christmas festivities with some positive mental memories. They face two road games up next and desperately need a result from this match too, injury wise they are not in too bad a shape, biggest loss is left back Antonio Lopez (6-0-0), he was a bench warmer at Atletico last season, so might be able to make a contribution anyway, with some information about his former team mates.

Atletico are 9 points adrift of Barcelona at the top of the table and that is likely to be 12 by the time this match kicks off, they know they are not going to catch them and I guess target for the season, must be to finish second and above cross town rival Real, whom they currently hold a seven point advantage over, again that might well be down to four by kick off, so plenty for the visitors to play for, but given their situation this evening, a point might be seen as one gained not two lost. They arrive short of a few star names and their three named strikers have just four goals between them this season, the irreplaceable Falcao (16-17-1), Arda Turan (16-4-5), central defender Miranda(16-2-0) and Emre (6-0-1) are all missing and two players added to the squad, Pedro and Saul, have seen just 27 minutes of top flight action between them this season, 29 minutes over their entire (young) careers.

This is a huge game for Mallorca, who have a good record in this fixture (4-0-1 in last five seasons), including a 2-1 win here last March, for Atletico, a win would be nice, a draw acceptable and a loss not the end of the world, especially with two matches on home soil , where they are 9-0-0, up next.

Home team with the start looks pretty solid, 1.5 units Mallorca +0.25 ball asian line

Mallorca: Calatayud, Pina, Pereira, NSue, Giovani, Tomer, Márquez,  Aouate, Geromel, Nunes, Bigas, Martí, Alfaro, Arizmendi, Kevin, Fontàs, Ximo and Álvaro.

Atletico:1. Sergio Asenjo,13. Courtois,2. Godín,3. Filipe Luis,12. Pulido,15. Domingo Cisma,18. Cata Díaz,20. Juanfran,4. Mario Suárez,5. Tiago,6. Koke,8. Raúl García,11. Cristian Rodríguez,14. Gabi,28. Saúl,7. Adrián, 19. Diego Costa and 27. Pedro.

Good Luck.