Celta Vigo will be eyeing their third straight victory in La Liga when they welcome high-flying Cadiz to Vigo on Monday night.
The home side have picked up back-to-back victories over Granada and Athletic Bilbao to move out of the relegation zone, while Cadiz, who are currently fifth in Spain's top flight, continued their excellent start to the season with a 2-1 win over Barcelona last weekend.
Match preview
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Celta's form this season has largely been disappointing, but a change in manager seems to have brought a change in fortunes, with Eduardo Coudet overseeing two wins from his three games in charge.
The Sky Blues were in the relegation zone when they lost at Sevilla on November 21, but a 3-1 victory over Granada arrived one week later, before an impressive 2-0 success at Athletic Bilbao last weekend.
Celta are currently 17th in the table, having picked up 13 points from their 12 matches, although they could be back in the bottom three by the time that kickoff arrives on Monday night.
The Celts have finished 17th in each of the last two La Liga seasons, and it would not be a surprise to see them in and around the bottom three for the majority of the campaign.
A third straight victory on Monday night would hand them huge confidence, though, ahead of a Copa del Rey clash against Llanera on December 17.
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Cadiz, meanwhile, have made an excellent start to the season, picking up 18 points from their 12 league matches to occupy fifth position in the table, just two points behind fourth-placed Real Madrid.
The Yellow Submarine will enter Monday's clash off the back of a 2-1 win over Barca last weekend, which was earned courtesy of a second-half strike from Alvaro Negredo.
Last season's Segunda Division runners-up also won at Real Madrid earlier this season, and the early indications are that they will have no relegation troubles during the 2020-21 campaign.
Alvaro Cervera's side actually have a third-best away record in the league this term, winning four of their six matches and suffering just one defeat, but they have found it difficult on their own patch, managing just one victory and collecting only six points, which is the third-worst record in the division.
Celta Vigo La Liga form: DLDLWW
Cadiz La Liga form: DWLLDW
Team News
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Celta will be unable to call upon Jeison Murillo on Monday through suspension, meaning that Joseph Aidoo is expected to start alongside Nestor Araujo in the middle of the defence.
Sergio Alvarez, Kevin Vazquez and David Junca are still injured, but Okay Yokuslu is available again after serving a one-game suspension.
Coudet is expected to keep faith with the majority of the side that featured against Athletic last time out, with Iago Aspas, Santi Mina, Nolito and Denis Suarez all likely to start.
As for Cadiz, Luismi Quezada, Jose Mari and Marcos Mauro are unavailable through injury, while Juan Cala and Salvi Sanchez remain fitness doubts.
Negredo is expected to return to the starting XI, having come off the bench to score the winner against Barca, but Alberto Perea and Jairo Izquierdo should keep their spots out wide.
Anthony Lozano is also an option in the final third of the field, but Alvaro is unlikely to alter his formation for Monday's clash, meaning that there might only be room for one centre-forward.
Celta Vigo possible starting lineup:
Blanco; Mallo, Araujo, Aidoo, Olaza; Mendez, Suarez, Tapia, Nolito; Mina, Aspas
Cadiz possible starting lineup:
Ledesma; Iza, Fali, Alcala, Espino; Fernandez, Jonsson; Perea, Alex, Izquierdo; Negredo
We say: Celta Vigo 1-1 Cadiz
Celta have shown a lot of improvement in their last two matches, but Cadiz's away record this season is excellent, and the visitors will be full of confidence heading into this game; we are finding it difficult to separate the two sides on this occasion and are therefore backing a low-scoring draw.
Top betting tip
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 37.75%. A win for Cadiz had a probability of 32.72% and a draw had a probability of 29.5%.
The most likely scoreline for a Celta Vigo win was 1-0 with a probability of 13.13%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (7.54%) and 2-0 (7.37%). The likeliest Cadiz win was 0-1 (11.98%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.43%). The actual scoreline of 4-0 was predicted with a 0.8% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Celta Vigo would win this match.
