Good evening and welcome to Sports Mole's live text coverage of the Madrid derby between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid at the Bernabeu.
The hosts come into this match looking to respond to their first defeat of the season in midweek, when they were comfortably second best en route to a 3-0 loss at Sevilla.
Atletico, by contrast, have overcome a shaky start to the campaign to win their last three games, and another victory tonight would see them leapfrog their city rivals in the table.
Make sure you don't miss a moment of the action courtesy of our minute-by-minute updates below.
Real may have the home advantage coming into this match, but it is Atletico who have the better form following the midweek results and they could leapfrog their city rivals in the table tonight. It promises to be a very intriguing encounter, as it always is between these two giants of European football and made all the more so by Barcelona dropping points earlier today.
Let's start with a look at the team news...
Well, there is good news for Real Madrid in that Dani Carvajal returns to the starting lineup after injury, replacing Marcelo in the side this evening after the Brazilian limped off during the defeat to Sevilla in midweek.
That switch will see Nacho move over to the left side of the defence, having played on the right against Sevilla too.
Thibaut Courtois continues in goal having established himself as the number one ahead of Navas now, while in front of him Raphael Varane and Sergio Ramos will need to be at their best this evening to keep Atletico's front two quiet.
In front of them, Casemiro is the main man to protect them, while Toni Kroos and newly-crowned best player in the world Luka Modric make up the midfield trio.
Benzema has four goals in his six league appearances this season, while Bale has three in five and seems to be thriving with the prospect of being the main man at the Bernabeu.
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Costa did score twice in the UEFA Super Cup Madrid derby at the start of the season, though, the first of which came inside one minute, so Real will need to be alert from the off tonight.
That switch sees Juanfran come in for Munoz, while Jose Gimenez has overcome an ankle knock to start alongside Godin.
Simeone does not opt to unleash Thomas Partey as well tonight, though, while there is no place in the squad at all for Gelson Martins.
The likes of Stefan Savic and Santiago Arias are both still sidelined, meanwhile.
The hosts are coming into this match having suffered their first loss of the campaign on Wednesday night, and it was a chastening defeat too as they were comfortably second best against Sevilla.
As if the result alone was not disappointing enough, it also saw Real fail to take advantage of Barcelona's loss to Leganes just a couple of hours previously, leaving still second in the table.
Victory tonight would therefore take Real to the top of the table, while defeat would leave them in third place behind both Barca and Atletico - where they finished last season, of course.
However, Atletico fans will also be quick to point out their 4-2 extra time win over their city rivals in the UEFA Super Cup, which got Lopetegui off to a losing start as Real Madrid boss in Tallinn.
Real have won 11 of those 18 matches, and the last time that they lost to a team other than Sevilla in the top flight was back in February, when they were beaten 1-0 by Espanyol.
Lopetegui's side have won all four of their home matches across all competitions this season, scoring 10 goals and conceding just one in the process.
Real have gone 12 home games without defeat since then, scoring 42 goals in that time, and tonight they could win six league home games in a row for the first time since February 2017.
Diego Simeone's side appear to be finding a bit of momentum now, and while Real were 3-0 down inside 40 minutes in midweek, Atletico were three up inside 33 against Huesca.
Another victory tonight would see them win four games in a row for the first time since a run of eight in February, and it would also take them level on points with Barcelona at the top of the table.
Simeone's side only won one of their opening four league games - a narrow win over Rayo which was interspersed with draws with Valencia and Eibar and a defeat to Celta, prior to this run of three victories on the bounce.
As previously mentioned, Atletico were all but ruled out of the title race not long ago, but those defeats for Barcelona and Real in midweek really blew things wide open again, even this early in the season.
Indeed, the midweek win over Huesca saw Atletico record back-to-back league wins for the first time since a run of six in a row in February.
However, their form has been mixed on the road so far this season, drawing with Valencia, losing at Celta and then beating Getafe last weekend.
Atletico have a Champions League game against Club Brugge to look forward to on Wednesday night, before hosting Real Betis at the Wanda Metropolitano next weekend.
These are always tricky ones to call, and ordinarily a safe bet would be a low-scoring affair, but the previous meeting in the UEFA Super Cup certainly did not adhere to that rule. It could go either way, but we're sitting on the fence and going for a draw.
SPORTS MOLE SAYS: Real Madrid 1-1 Atletico Madrid
However, while a stalemate has been the least common result in the history of the fixture, four of the last five meetings have ended all square.
The most recent of those came in April, when Griezmann offered a swift riposte to Ronaldo's opening goal in a 1-1 draw.
Costa opened the scoring after just 50 seconds on that occasion and then went on to rescue extra time after Benzema and Ramos had responded with goals of their own. Saul and Koke then struck in the additional 30 minutes to seal a memorable 4-2 triumph for Atletico.
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REAL MADRID STARTING XI: Courtois; Carvajal, Ramos, Varane, Nacho; Kroos, Casemiro, Modric; Bale, Benzema, Asensio
ATLETICO MADRID STARTING XI: Oblak; Juanfran, Godin, Jimenez, Luis; Koke, Rodri, Saul, Lemar; Costa, Griezmann
The Frenchman races clean through on goal but appears too relaxed about it and sees his finish denied by a big save from Courtois. How big could that moment prove to be tonight?
The Atletico keeper tries to pass the ball out but sees it blocked by Asensio. The ball is looping towards goal, but Oblak then just casually sticks out an arms to bring it back into his grasp.
Atletico have probably just about had the better of things, but it is still finely poised and could go either way in the coming 45 minutes.
However, the Frenchman always looked a little too relaxed and trip to chip it over the keeper with the outside of his left boot, when he might have been better off going round the keeper.
There has also been a decent chance for Benzema, but Gimenez made a big block to deny the striker on that occasion.
The ball is laid into the path of Asensio, who only has the keeper to beat from inside the area, but Oblak is immediately out there and makes himself big to pull off a vital stop.
SAVE!
— Eleven Sports (@ElevenSports_UK) September 29, 2018
Lovely save from Jan Oblak! @TerryGibson88 says that Oblak and Courtois are two of the best keepers in the world - do you agree?#LaLiga #RealAtletico #MadridDerby
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The big winners tonight are Barcelona, who remain top of the table despite dropping seven points from a possible nine in the space of a week.
Thank you very much for joining Sports Mole for tonight's match as the Madrid derby ends all square. I will leave you with our match report, and be sure to stick around for reaction too.
From me, though, it is goodbye for now!