The two halves of Madrid collide in one of the LaLiga Santander's marquee matchups this weekend. Read on for our expert tips and predictions.

Both sides played out an entertaining 1-1 draw at the Wanda Metropolitano in their most recent encounter, stretching Real's unbeaten run in this fixture to five games in all competitions.

Real Madrid keen on stretching lead at the summit

Los Blancos look like they can do no wrong at the moment taking into account their recent results. Having won nine straight in all competitions, Ancelotti's troops have blown away the competition continentally and domestically. Real Sociedad were the recent casualties of the Real Madrid whirlwind as Los Blancos downed Reale's title aspirations with the aid of goals from in-form Vinicius and Luka Jovic last weekend. This stretched their lead at the summit of the LaLiga Santander table to eight points with nearest challengers Sevilla struggling to keep up. Fast forward to the midweek, Real Madrid made light work of Inter to seal qualification onto the Champions League knockouts as group leaders.

Atletico Madrid's form, most especially in the UEFA Champions League group stage, was a cause for major concern with the Rojiblancos and although they were not helped by the calibre of teams in their group, Simeone and his troops came under a lot of pressure in the final few group games. However, they sealed qualification to the knockouts by beating Porto in Portugal in one of the teams' best performances in a while. This was after they were shocked by Mallorca at the Estadio Wanda Metropolitano last weekend as they dropped points once again in the league. Atletico Madrid has lost just two league games but finds itself ten points behind their city rivals. What kind of response should we expect from the Red and Whites of Madrid ?

Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid Prediction

Real Madrid possible starting XI:

Courtois; Carvajal, Militao, Alaba, Mendy; Casemiro, Modric, Kroos; Vinicius, Rodrygo, Benzema

Atletico Madrid possible starting XI:

Oblak; Llorente, Felipe, Hermoso, Lodi; Correa, Koke, Kondogbia, De Paul; Suarez, Griezmann

Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid Prediction: 2-1

Atletico head into this game without a win on Madrid's own patch since 2016 and we see that pattern continuing after the 90 minutes at the Santiago Bernabeu. As such, we would be going for a home win in a tightly-contested affair.