Celta Vigo will be looking to boost their survival hopes in Spain's top flight when they continue their 2019-20 campaign with a home match against Alaves on Sunday afternoon.
Oscar Garcia's side are currently 17th in the La Liga table, while Alaves occupy 12th and are not really in danger of being dragged into the relegation mix in the latter stages of the season.
Match preview
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Celta are currently just above the bottom three in 17th, although they could enter this match in the relegation zone as all three teams below them - Mallorca, Leganes and Espanyol - will play before this particular game.
There is no getting away from the fact that it has been a tough season for the Sky Blues, who have only won five of their 29 league matches, which is the joint-worst record in the division.
They have actually lost just one of their last seven in Spain's top flight but only two victories have arrived during that run, with too many draws keeping them in the relegation mix at this stage.
Celta have drawn three of their last four league matches 0-0, including away to Real Valladolid on Wednesday night, but they lost their last home game 1-0 to Villarreal on June 13.
The Vigo-based side are winless in their last four league matches with Alaves, meanwhile, and suffered a 2-0 defeat in the reverse match earlier this season.
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Alaves also ran out 1-0 winners when they last travelled to Celta in October 2018, and the visitors will enter this game off the back of an impressive 2-0 success over Real Sociedad on Thursday night.
Asier Garitano's side have consolidated their spot in La Liga over the last three seasons - finishing ninth, 14th and 11th - and they are in a very strong position to secure another campaign at this level.
Indeed, a total of 35 points from their 29 matches has left them in 12th spot in the table, 10 points clear of the relegation zone, although the gap could be shortened by the time that this game kicks off.
Alaves are actually winless in their last four fixtures away from home in Spain's top flight and suffered a 2-0 loss at struggling Espanyol on June 13 as they resumed their season amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Celta La Liga form: DWDDLD
Alaves La Liga form: LWDDLW
Team News
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Celta announced earlier this week that they had re-signed Nolito from Sevilla on an emergency deal, but the attacker is struggling with injury and faces a battle to be involved this weekend.
David Junca and Sergio Alvarez are also both on the sidelines, but Hugo Mallo should be back from a knock.
Iago Aspas missed a penalty in the draw with Valladolid but is again expected to start alongside Fedor Smolov in the final third of the field, with Pione Sisto again on the bench.
As for Alaves, Tomas Pina's red card against Sociedad means that the midfielder is suspended for this match, while Ruben Duarte is also banned courtesy of the yellow card that he picked up in the same game.
First-choice goalkeeper Fernando Pacheco is back from a suspension of his own, but Rodrigo Ely and Aleix Vidal are still on the sidelines for the visitors, who are expected to have Lucas Perez and Joselu leading their line once again.
Celta possible starting lineup:
Blanco; Mallo, Aidoo, Murillo, Araujo, Olaza; Rafinha, Yokuslu, Beltran; Aspas, Smolov
Alaves possible starting lineup:
Pacheco; Navarro, Laguardia, Magalian, Marin; Rioja, Camarasa, Fejsa, Sainz; Perez, Joselu
We say: Celta 2-2 Alaves
Only Atletico Madrid (13) have drawn more La Liga games than Celta (12) this season, and we fancy another draw in Sunday's encounter. Alaves will be full of confidence after a strong result against Sociedad, but Celta have enough quality to pick up a share of the spoils in this game.
Matt Law
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Celta Vigo win with a probability of 48.89%. A draw had a probability of 27.1% and a win for Alaves had a probability of 23.98%.
The most likely scoreline for a Celta Vigo win was 1-0 with a probability of 14.01%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (9.88%) and 2-1 (8.88%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.59%), while for an Alaves win it was 0-1 (8.93%). The actual scoreline of 6-0 was predicted with a 0.1% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Celta Vigo would win this match.
