Granada will host Celta Vigo this Sunday at the Nuevo Estadio de Los Carmenes knowing that three points could see them leapfrog Real Sociedad into 6th place.
Following a good spell over the festive period, Eduardo Coudet's Celta Vigo side have succumbed to another dip in form, picking up just one point in their last five La Liga outings. A win this weekend would take them as high as seventh in the standings.
Match preview
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It has been an interesting campaign for Granada, who are looking to improve upon their successful seventh-place finish last season.
With their Europa League clash against Napoli edging ever closer, Diego Martinez will be looking to build upon his side's solid start to the season before fixtures start piling up.
Having won just two of their last six games, Granada are struggling for form at the moment. Last time out in the league against Osasuna, a game which was easily winnable on paper, Martinez's men lost 3-1, registering just one shot on target.
However, Granada soothed their La Liga woes earlier this week when they thrashed Navalcarnero 6-0 in the Copa del Rey, propelling them into the quarter-finals of the competition.
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Against Celta Vigo, Granada will come up against one of the division's most mercurial outfits. A spirited side on their day, Celta are also well-known for their lacklustre performances, which usually coincide with injuries to star striker Iago Aspas.
Fortunately for Coudet, Aspas could feature for Celta this weekend after recovering from a recent injury. The Galician cult hero has already found the back of the net nine times this season and could make it an even 10 on Sunday.
Considering Celta have won just one of their last 13 La Liga games on their travels this season, Coudet will certainly need all his players firing on all cylinders this weekend.
Fortunately for Coudet, Granada have only won one of their last 12 La Liga games against Celta.
Granada La Liga form: WLLWDL
Granada form (all competitions): LLWDLW
Celta Vigo La Liga form: DWLLLD
Celta Vigo form (all competitions): WLLLLD
Team News
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Martinez does not have any fresh injury concerns to worry about, but he will still be without Yan Brice, who was sent off in the game against Villarreal.
Other absentees include Neyder Lozano and Maxime Gonalons, who are both unavailable due to injury.
Denis Suarez will be available for selection once again after serving his one-game suspension, and Coudet is expected to reinstate the playmaker in his starting XI.
David Junca and Sergio Alvarez are both still unavailable for this tie due to injury.
Granada possible starting lineup:
Silva; Foulquier, Duarte, Sanchez, Neva; Kenedy, Angel Montoro, Suarez, Vallejo, Machis; Soldado
Celta Vigo possible starting lineup:
Blanco; Mallo, Araujo, Murillo, Olaza; Mor, Beltran, Tapia, Mendez, Nolito; Mina
We say: Granada 2-2 Celta Vigo
With both of these sides struggling for form at this stage of the campaign, Sunday's clash could turn out to be a bit of a dogfight. We do not think anything will be able to separate them, but the introduction of Iago Aspas late in the game may well prove us wrong.
Top betting tip
Francis Buchanan
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 38.24%. A win for Granada had a probability of 33% and a draw had a probability of 28.8%.
The most likely scoreline for a Celta Vigo win was 0-1 with a probability of 12.46%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (7.82%) and 0-2 (7.32%). The likeliest Granada win was 1-0 (11.35%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.32%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with a 10.6% likelihood.
