Celta Vigo will look to record a fourth straight league victory on Wednesday, when they take on Getafe at the Estadio Municipal de Balaidos.
An upturn in form has seen the hosts rise up to eighth spot in the La Liga table, while the visitors go in search of a victory to all but confirm their survival.
Match preview
© Reuters
Celta Vigo picked up an impressive result last time out, as they travelled to take on Villarreal, who had just booked their spot in the Europa League final on Thursday.
A Santi Mina brace and goals from Brais Mendez and Augusto Solari fired Los Celestes to a comfortable 4-2 victory, with Gerard Moreno only added a second goal for the hosts in the dying minutes.
That was a third consecutive league win for Eduardo Coudet's side, having previously recorded a 2-1 win at home to Osasuna and a 2-0 home victory over Levante, with Mendez and Solari again getting on the scoresheet in the latter.
As a result of their upturn in form, Celta Vigo have risen to eighth spot in the Spanish top flight, a notable improvement on last season's 17th-placed finish.
Unfortunately for Coudet, they may have hit form slightly too late to sneak into the Europa League group stage places, as they sit seven points behind Real Betis in sixth spot with three games left to play.
That means they will be desperate to win their three remaining matches to keep their slim chances alive of achieving European qualification, starting with Wednesday's important game.
They take on a Getafe side who will look to bounce back from consecutive defeats to move further away from the relegation zone.
© Reuters
Los Azulones come into this game on the back of consecutive 1-0 defeats in La Liga, most recently falling to a disappointing loss at home to basement side Eibar.
The game looked set to end goalless until Jose Bordalas's side conceded a penalty in the 89th minute, which Recio converted to snatch all three points.
Before that, Getafe again looked set to seal a point as they travelled to take on Villarreal, but a Yeremi Pino goal in the 80th minute meant they went home empty-handed.
Bordalas's men now find themselves in 15th spot, with a four-point gap between themselves and 18th-placed Huesca with three games left to play.
While they may not fear the drop with just nine points left for the bottom sides to play for, Los Azulones will still want a victory to potentially confirm their safety on Wednesday.
- L
- D
- L
- W
- W
- W
- L
- D
- L
- W
- L
- L
Team News
© Reuters
Celta Vigo will be without Facundo Ferreyra, who picked up a red card in the dying minutes of the 4-2 victory over Villarreal last time out, while centre-back Nestor Araujo will also serve a suspension after he picked up his fifth yellow card of the campaign in that game.
They join a long list of players on the sidelines, as Sergio Alvarez, Ruben Blanco, Emre Mor, Jeison Murillo and Renato Tapia all remain out through injury.
Key striker Iago Aspas also remains a doubt, after he was unable to feature off the bench last time out, having recorded 13 goals and 11 assists in 30 league appearances this season.
In his absence, Santi Mina continued his strong campaign with a brace to take his tally to 10 goals for the season.
Augusto Solari and Brais Mendez have also contributed plenty of attacking threat recently, having both netted in consecutive matches coming into Wednesday's game.
Getafe come into this game without centre-back David Timor, who will serve a suspension after he was shown his fifth yellow card of the season last time out.
Cucho Hernandez and Erick Cabaco remain out through injury, while centre-back Djene Dakonam is a doubt after he was forced off in the first half of the Eibar game with an injury concern.
Enes Unal and Jaime Mata are expected to partner up again in attack, despite Getafe failing to find the net in the last two games.
Celta Vigo possible starting lineup:
Villar; Mallo, Caceres, Aidoo, Caricol; Beltran; Nolito, Suarez, Solari; Mina, Mendez
Getafe possible starting lineup:
Soria; Suarez, Chakla, Chema, Oliveira; Nyom, Maksimovic, Arambarri, Cucurella; Unal, Mata
We say: Celta Vigo 2-0 Getafe
Even with a long injury list, the hosts come into this game in a far better run of form than their opponents, and we see that continuing with a fourth straight league victory on Wednesday.
Los Celestes will know that they have to win all three of their remaining games to stand any chance of securing sixth spot, and that should provide enough encouragement to see them over the line on home turf.
Top 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 42.41%. A win for Getafe had a probability of 30.05% and a draw had a probability of 27.5%.
The most likely scoreline for a Celta Vigo win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.21%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.53%) and 2-0 (8.04%). The likeliest Getafe win was 0-1 (9.86%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.96%). The actual scoreline of 1-0 was predicted with a 12.2% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 1-0 win for Celta Vigo in this match.
