Celta Vigo head into Wednesday evening's fixture with Huesca looking to extend their unbeaten streak in La Liga to six matches.
Despite only suffering one defeat in their last four outings, the visitors sit in bottom spot and three points adrift of safety.
Match preview
© Reuters
Celta Vigo's four-match winning streak came to an end in their last fixture as they were held to a 1-1 draw at Getafe.
Nevertheless, the share of the spoils helped maintain the momentum generated by recent managerial appointment Eduardo Coudet, whose side now sit in eighth position.
Just a month after appearing destined to feature in a relegation battle, Celta are now targeting qualification for the Europa League at the end of the campaign.
Iago Aspas netted his team's equaliser in their last game, extending his run of contributing at least a goal or assist to eight La Liga fixtures.
Celta head into this fixture sitting in third spot in the form table, behind only Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid who have both recorded 15 points from six games.
Despite picking up six points over the same period, Huesca find themselves in last position and searching for just their second league triumph of the season.
While positives can be taken from claiming nine draws from their 15 games, Michel's side are beginning to lose ground on the teams above them.
With Barcelona to follow on January 3, Michel may find himself caught in two minds ahead of this fixture as he bids to remain within three points of their rivals.
Despite starting the last three league matches among the replacements, Wolverhampton Wanderers loanee Rafa Mir remains as the club's top goalscorer with just three goals.
Celta Vigo La Liga form: LWWWD
Celta Vigo form (all competitions): WWWWWD
Huesca La Liga form: DLDWLD
Huesca form (all competitions): LDWWLD
Team News
© Reuters
While Santi Mina is closing in on a return for Celta, the forward is only in contention for a place among the replacements.
Despite witnessing his side fail to win their last match, Coudet could opt against making any alterations to his starting XI.
Huesca are likely to replace the suspended Pablo Insua with Jorge Pulido, who returns after serving a ban.
Shinji Okazaki has failed to score in his last three appearances, which may lead to a recall for Mir down the middle of the attack.
Celta Vigo possible starting lineup:
Blanco; Mallo, Araujo, Murillo, Olaza; Beltran, Suarez, Tapia, Nolito; Aspaz, Mendez
Huesca possible starting lineup:
Fernandez; Lopez, Pulido, Siovas, Galan; Rico, Mosquera; Ferreiro, Garcia, Ontiveros; Mir
We say: Celta Vigo 3-1 Huesca
While Huesca are continuing to pick up points at the wrong end of the standings, they are desperately in need of a second win. However, that desire to gain maximum points may play into the hands of their hosts, who will fancy their chances of a fifth win in six.
Top betting tip
Darren Plant
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 40.18%. A win for Huesca had a probability of 31.81% and a draw had a probability of 28%.
The most likely scoreline for a Celta Vigo win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.15%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.21%) and 2-0 (7.6%). The likeliest Huesca win was 0-1 (10.49%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.13%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with an 8.2% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Celta Vigo would win this match.
