Diego Simeone's men beat Celta Vigo and Elche to climb to the top of La Liga, while the visitors have had a relatively slow start to two straight goalless draws, which will set them up for a quick start to victory here.
Match Preview
Taking advantage of the bad seasons experienced by Real Madrid and Barcelona, Atletico Madrid won the title last season, although they had to be forced to wait until the last weekend as their city rivals continued to push the competition until the final match to leave the two only by two points.
While Real Madrid's situation has not improved and Barcelona have lost Lionel Messi instead, Diego Simeone knows that this is the best chance to win two titles in a row in two seasons and they have started their campaign well so far.
After picking up a 1-2 win at Celta Vigo through an Angel Correa brace, Atletico Madrid then started their first game at home this season with a narrow 1-0 win over Elche, again thanks to the Argentina international's goal.
Villarreal, meanwhile, are yet to replicate their superb form last season as they won the Europa League and eventually qualified for the Champions League group stage, with Unai Emery's side now without a win in their three competitive matches.
After being beaten by Chelsea in the European Super Cup on penalties, Juan Foyth's red card then colored their draw at home to Granada before once again having to settle for the score of glasses in the trip to Espanyol.
Meeting Record
In the last 27 head-to-head encounters between the two sides, the record is exactly the same. Atletico Madrid and Villarreal have both won 10 games and drawn seven. But Los Rojiblancos are ahead of the record in recent encounters, winning three and being unbeaten in the last six.
Team News
Joao Felix is still unavailable for Atletico Madrid, while there are doubts over the availability of Brazilian defender Felipe, Mexican midfielder Hector Herrera and Colombian right-back Santiago Arias.
Villarreal will be without Nigeria winger Samuel Chukwueze and experienced midfielder Dani Parejo, while the availability of centre-back Pau Torres is in doubt due to his long holiday.
Player Estimate
Atletico Madrid XI (3-5-2): Jan Oblak; Stefan Savic, Jose Gimenez, Mario Hermoso; Marcos Llorente, Koke, Rodrigo De Paul, Geoffrey Kondogbia, Thomas Lemar; Luis Suarez, Angel Correa
Villarreal XI (4-4-2): Geronimo Rulli; Juan Foyth, Raul Albiol, Aissa Mandi, Alfonso Pedraza; Moi Gomez, Manu Trigueros, Etienne Capoue, Arnaut Danjuma; Gerard Moreno, Boulaye Dia
Prediction
Atletico Madrid have won their last 7 home matches in La Liga, but have won only by a 1 goal margin in their last 5 league matches. While Villarreal have kept a clean sheet in 5 of their last 7 matches in domestic competition, this duel will probably result in minimal goals.
Atletico Madrid are unbeaten in their last 6 meetings against Villarreal in all competitions with three wins and they are expected to continue their positive streak and pick up a narrow win here.
Score Prediction: Atletico Madrid 1-0 Villarreal