It was by no means a vintage LaLiga campaign for Atletico Madrid in 2019-20.

Atletico's lacklustre attack saw them fail to challenge Barcelona and Real Madrid for LaLiga glory, with their tally of 51 goals the worst of any team to finish in the European places.

Diego Simeone has managed to get more out of his team going forward this season and Atleti sit top of the table with 21 goals scored – the second-best record in the league – from their 10 games.

Not solely content with getting his team to find a more clinical streak, the Argentinian has managed to further tighten things up in a defence that only champions Madrid conceded fewer than last term.

Atleti have shipped just two league goals, matching Deportivo La Coruna's record from 1993-94 for the best start of any team at this stage of a campaign, and will be planning to make life difficult for Zinedine Zidane's men in El Derbi at Estadio Alfredo di Stefano on Saturday.

The press

Only Barcelona (237) and Elche (212) have had fewer defensive actions – defined as tackles, interceptions, fouls conceded, challenges and blocked passes – outside of their own final third than Atletico's 288 in LaLiga this season.

However, the opposition passes allowed per defensive action (PPDA) for Atleti (11.6) is lower than both Barca (12.3) and Elche (15.91), showing that when they do press high they are quicker to interrupt their opponents.

Atleti are by no means one of the highest-pressing teams in LaLiga, though, with their PPDA ranking 13th in the competition. Sevilla lead the way with 9.14.

Yet when they do regain the ball in more advanced areas, they tend to make it count. Of their 50 high turnovers, 12 have ended in shots. Only Madrid (13), Real Sociedad (14) and Villarreal (18) have more shot-ending high turnovers.

Limiting chances

Atleti are also impressive when it comes to stopping direct attacks, which Opta defines as open-play sequences that start just inside a team's own half and have at least 50 per cent of movement towards the opposition's goal and end in a shot or a touch in the opposition box.

Simeone's men have limited their opponents to just 10 direct attacks, with only Athletic Bilbao (eight) and Sociedad (nine) having allowed fewer, showing they are difficult to break down quickly and force teams to work to get into threatening areas.

When you do get a chance against Atletico it needs to be a good one in order to score. The two goals Simeone's men have conceded this season were the efforts with the highest expected goals (xG) they have faced in LaLiga this term – Jorge Molina (0.99) in a 6-1 victory over Granada and Ante Budimir (0.66) when they beat Osasuna 3-1.

As they have only let in two goals and have an xG against of 9.17, their differential is 7.17. That is the best in LaLiga, and Elche are the only other team with a differential greater than four.

A fine final line

It always helps having one of the world's best goalkeepers as well, and that is exactly what Atleti have in Jan Oblak.

Oblak's 34 saves in LaLiga this season are only the sixth most, but his save percent of 94 per cent is comfortably the best.

The difference he makes can be most clearly seen when using the xG on target (xGOT) model, though.

The shots on target Oblak has faced are enough for him to have conceded seven goals, so by only letting two past him he has been responsible for five goals.

His goals prevented figure of 5.07 is the best in the league but only marginally better than Edgar Badia of Elche.

All these factors have combined to give Atleti the meanest defence in the top five European leagues and make them look like LaLiga title contenders once again.