Real Sociedad play host to Celta Vigo on Wednesday evening looking to end a three-match winless streak in La Liga.
Meanwhile, Vigo make the trip to the Anoeta Stadium having moved four points clear of the relegation zone with a 6-0 thrashing of Alaves at the weekend.
Match preview
© Reuters
Ahead of their return to action, Sociedad would have been confident of being able to retain their place in the top four, especially with fixtures against Osasuna and Alaves on the horizon.
However, picking up just one point from that double-header, coupled with Sunday's defeat against Real Madrid, has resulted in Sociedad losing significant ground in the race for the Champions League places.
At the beginning of the week, they sit five points adrift of fourth-placed Atletico Madrid and just one point ahead of Valencia in eighth position.
Although Sociedad's fixture schedule is more favourable than most, Imanol Alguacil knows that his team must start picking up victories as soon as possible if they are to earn a return to the Champions League for the first time since 2013.
Something which may prove to be a blessing in disguise is the recent return to form of their upcoming opponents, effectively eliminating the chance of any complacency.
Before their meeting with Alaves at the weekend, Vigo had gone four games without recording a victory or goal, leaving them on the brink of dropping into the bottom three.
However, aided by Alaves being reduced to 10 men in the first half, Celestes posted a resounding 6-0 triumph, providing them with much-needed breathing space.
While Oscar Garcia will acknowledge that there is still much work to do, he would have been relieved when seeing a much-improved showing from his attacking players.
Iago Aspas finally reached double figures for the campaign, ending a three-game wait, with Denis Suarez setting up two goals to take his tally for the season to five.
Real Sociedad La Liga form: WLWDLL
Celta Vigo La Liga form: WDDLDW
Team News
© Reuters
With two of his last three outings having come from the substitutes' bench, Adnan Janzuaj could be recalled to the Sociedad starting lineup.
Willian Jose will also hope to be back in the first XI after only making a late substitute outing against Real Madrid.
Joseba Zaldua could be restored to the centre of midfield after serving a one-match suspension.
Barring any late fitness issues, Garcia could select the team which began the demolition of Alaves.
Holding a 4-0 advantage at the break, Garcia was able to handed much-needed game time to some of his fringe players during the second half.
Real Sociedad possible starting lineup:
Remiro; Gorosabel, Llorente, Normand, Monreal; Zaldua, Merino; Januzaj, Odegaard, Oyarzabal; Willian Jose
Celta Vigo possible starting lineup:
Blanco; Vazquez, Murillo, Araujo, Olaza; Beltran, Yokuslu, Rafinha; Aspas, Smolov, Suarez
We say: Real Sociedad 1-1 Celta Vigo
Despite their contrasting league positions, this has all the makings of a closely-fought contest. Although Sociedad will be desperate to get back to winning ways, we feel that Vigo will do enough to earn a crucial point in their bid to avoid the drop.
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 Real Sociedad win with a probability of 50.88%. A draw had a probability of 24.9% and a win for Celta Vigo had a probability of 24.26%.
The most likely scoreline for a Real Sociedad win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.45%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.53%) and 2-0 (9.24%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.82%), while for a Celta Vigo win it was 0-1 (7.33%). The actual scoreline of 0-1 was predicted with a 7.3% likelihood.
