Atletico Madrid yet again demon­strated their phenomenal set-piece prowess as they earned a vital three points at Almeria.

Returning to the scene of one of their rare defeats last season, the reigning champions were once more grateful to a headed goal from a corner as central defender Joao Miranda nodded home Koke’s delivery after an hour.

It was Miranda’s third of the sea­son – all from set-pieces – and it means that six of Atletico’s seven goals in the league have come from dead ball situations.

Atletico twice threatened in the early stages, with Antoine Griez­mann sending a header narrowly off target and Diego Godin, also with a header, forcing a good save from home goalkeeper Ruben.

The game then settled down, and although Almeria were rarely able to trouble Atletico’s back four, there was also very little threat from the Rojiblancos, whose manager Diego Simeone was in the stands for the last of his four game suspension.

Tiago drew another decent save from Ruben on the half-hour mark, and the Almeria stopper was again alert shortly before the interval to deny Raul Garcia.

Atletico’s frustration continued early in the second half as Ruben once more did well to deny Griez­mann, and the visitors were look­ing increasingly desperate for the victory they needed to stay in touch with leaders Barcelona. But then came the textbook Atletico goal as Koke delivered a corner to the near post and Miranda rose high to pow­er home a header.

A second nearly followed as Arda Turan produced some lovely skill to work his way into the area, but Ru­ben once again intervened.

Almeria had hardly threatened Miguel Angel Moya’s goal all night but gave Atletico a scare in the final stages when Verza’s free-kick cleared the wall but just missed the target.