Something good is happening at Atletico Madrid.

There have been times this season when things haven’t gone well. Neither Jackson Martinez nor Fernando Torres seemed to be able to find the net.

The defence, a key base for Diego Simeone to build his side from, looked weaker without Miranda, who joined Inter Milan in the summer.

Filipe Luis looked a different player after returning from a year away with Chelsea. And not in a good way.

Antoine Griezmann even stopped performing well, with the attacker short of goals, only netting one in seven games between October 21 and November 22.

There were disappointing results and poor performances, such as in the draws with Deportivo La Coruna and FC Astana, and the narrow win over Sporting Gijon.

But it seems like things are slowly clicking into place for Atletico.

They will be happy with how the league table is looking after their 1-0 win at home over Espanyol on Saturday.

Barcelona are top on 33 points, and Atletico are the next team behind them on 29.

Atletico still have tougher fixtures ahead of them, having hosted Barcelona and Real Madrid and needing to head to the Camp Nou and Santiago Bernabeu in the second half of the season.

But they are improving while their city rivals Real are faltering.

Los Blancos were defeated by Sevilla and then thrashed 4-0 at home by Barcelona before nearly throwing away a 4-0 lead against Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League, escaping with a 4-3 win.

There are doubts about manager Rafa Benitez in Madrid, as reported by Sky Sports’ Guillem Balague, and his team has looked confused, playing below their potential.

Atletico have taken advantage, shutting out their opponents for five games on the trot in all competitions and winning four of those games.

They have caught up with Benfica at the top of their Champions League group despite losing at home to the Portuguese side on Matchday 2.

Now Griezmann is back among the goals, and he impressed again against Espanyol.

Although the final score saw Atletico win by just a single goal, the difference between the teams was huge.

This is encouraging for Simeone’s side and something they must build on in the coming weeks.

Following a trip to Catalonia to face Reus in the Copa del Rey on Tuesday, they travel to Granada and Benfica in their next two games.

After that, they host Athletic Club and then Reus in the return Copa clash before finishing their year with trips to Malaga and Rayo Vallecano.

Five away games and just two at home means the rest of 2015 won’t be comfortable for Atletico, but there isn’t a single game among those fixtures they shouldn’t win.

There have been plenty of promising signs during the previous couple of fixtures, and they were present against Espanyol.

For one, they look a lot more capable of handling dangerous, skilful attackers such as Marco Asensio. The Espanyol man barely had a sniff on Saturday.

The defence has composed itself, and Juanfran’s return from injury along with an improved Filipe Luis are bonuses.

Oliver Torres, one of the star performers against Espanyol, was rightfully pleased after the game. He said, per AS: “We know the importance the game had. We were lucky to score an early goal and we are content. Our defensive solidity is what we have to carry on, it’s this that makes us strong.”

One blow was seeing Tiago go off injured with what was later revealed to be a broken leg, per UEFA. It’s speculated the Portuguese midfielder could be out for the rest of the season, which would be a major setback for an Atletico side looking to maintain its recent upturn in form.

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