Valencia vs. Atletico Madrid: Key Issues That Will Shape La Liga Game

In the game of the weekend in La Liga, Atletico Madrid will travel to the Mestalla on Saturday to take on Valencia, who are full of confidence following an impressive start to the 2014-15 campaign. 

While last season saw Valencia slip away from the top end of the Spanish Primera Division table, Nuno Espirito Santo has guided the team to an enterprising opening to the season, combining defensive solidarity with attacking flair to make the Europa League semi-finalists one of the continent's hottest teams right now. 

Unbeaten in six league starts and currently sitting behind only Barcelona in the table, Valencia will take some stopping in their current mood. 

But if there's a team who can quell that confidence and inflict both physical and mental scars on the home side, it's Diego Simeone's Atletico Madrid, who sit just one place back in third and are gathering momentum quickly after a sluggish start to the campaign.

Across the following slides, we examine five key issues that will shape Saturday's clash. 

Gabi's State of Mind

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Gabi has been a pillar of stability in Diego Simeone's midfield, but this week's developments on the match-fixing scandal in Spanish football might have rocked the Atletico Madrid captain to an extent.

A report on Thursday from El Mundo Deportivo, as relayed by The Telegraph, indicated that the midfielder admitted to prosecutors to being part of a conspiracy to fix Real Zaragoza's 2-1 win over Levante at the end of the 2010-11 season.

While it's unclear how the situation will unfold and whether the 31-year-old will face punishment for his involvement, the psychological impact of it all could take a toll on Gabi, engulfing him in controversy and doubt as he attempts to return from the injury picked up in the home victory over Sevilla. 

To protect his captain from such a storm, Simeone might elect to leave his midfield anchor on the bench, forcing a slight reshuffle in the middle. 

Paco Alcacer's Hot Form

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Paco Alcacer has started the 2014-15 season in blistering fashion for Valencia, racking up four goals and three assists in six league starts already. 

The No. 9 also struck for Spain in La Roja's victory over Macedonia, adding to his fine tally in front of goal in the early months of the campaign. 

But the Spaniard now faces his sternest test of the season against Atletico Madrid's commanding centre-back pairing of Diego Godin and Miranda—a duo significantly better than anything the 21-year-old has encountered against the likes of Malaga, Espanyol, Getafe and Cordoba. 

The issue that strikers such as Alcacer tend to have against Los Colchoneros' supreme defensive pairing is that they get out-muscled and man-handled, gradually sapping them of the energy and will to compete over 90 minutes. 

But Valencia's main threat is a little different to others.

An instinctive poacher who can seize upon the smallest of opportunities, Alcacer isn't the type who needs to be heavily involved in the play to make a difference. Instead, he can seem almost absent for large periods, before producing that decisive moment in an instant. 

Against a robust Atletico team who aim to suffocate their opposition, that predatory instinct could prove invaluable. 

Diego Simeone's Formation

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Diego Simeone's typical system for Atletico Madrid is a 4-4-2, but in the thrashing of Sevilla at the Vicente Calderon, the Argentine sent out his team a little differently, placing Tiago behind a bank of four that resulted in something more like a 4-1-4-1. 

The change proved effective, allowing Los Colchoneros to push higher up the pitch, with Gabi, Koke and Saul Niguez able to play in the visitors' half more often, safe in the knowledge Tiago would mop up behind them. 

Away from home against a surging Valencia outfit, Simeone might opt to revert to his more characteristic formation, but one feels Atletico need to adopt an altered approach in 2014-15 without Diego Costa, placing an emphasis on the manager to tinker with his team's methods in attack. 

Saturday's clash could provide further insight into how Simeone might oversee that evolution. 

Possible Fatigue for Atletico Madrid

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While Valencia have enjoyed a week off since their draw with Real Sociedad, Atletico Madrid will travel to the Mestalla with a degree of fatigue, having battled past Juventus in the Champions League on Wednesday. 

Of course, Diego Simeone's men have proved their incredible resilience time and time again, but without the relentless Diego Costa leading the charge, there's a little less margin for error this time around. 

Coming up against a dynamic Valencia outfit, Los Colchoneros will need to ensure their typical ferocity is evident on Saturday, bullying Los Che's midfield and attack before taking advantage when going the other way. So key to Atletico's success is the physical toll they inflict on their opponents. 

If any of that is missing against Valencia, the home side have the capacity to punish them.

Valencia's Ability to Deal with Atletico Madrid's Set Pieces

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Quite simply, Atletico Madrid are the finest exponents of a set piece on the planet. 

Already this season, eight of the team's 11 league goals have come from dead-ball situations—nearly all of them headers.  

But while the threat posed by Atleti is obvious for Valencia, stopping it is another thing entirely. 

In Gabi and Koke, Diego Simeone has two of the continent's best at whipping the ball viciously into the box, while the powerful bodies of Diego Godin, Miranda, Mario Mandzukic, Raul Garcia and Raul Jimenez can simply overwhelm opposing defences. 

Valencia might know it's coming, but it's also possible that they'll be powerless to stop it.

And if they can't, Atletico will likely leave the Mestalla with yet another victory.