Celta Vigo will be looking to continue their encouraging start to the 2020-21 season when they travel to Real Valladolid in La Liga on Sunday night.
Oscar Garcia's side have picked up four points from their two league games this term to sit fourth in the table, while Valladolid have managed just one point from their two fixtures thus far.
Match preview
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Valladolid made an encouraging start to their 2020-21 campaign, picking up a point at home to Real Sociedad on the opening weekend, but they lost 2-0 at Real Betis last time out.
Sergio Gonzalez's side will be wary of suffering another disappointing result on Sunday considering that they face a trip to the champions Real Madrid before the end of the month.
Pucela finished 13th in La Liga last season, which actually represented their best placing in Spain's top flight for almost 20 years, but they were 10 points off the top half of the table.
Valladolid have been relatively busy during this summer's transfer window, with Shon Weissman, Javi Sanchez, Fabian Orellana and Roberto among those to arrive, but highly-rated centre-back Mohammed Salisu has joined Southampton.
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Celta, meanwhile, opened their La Liga season with a goalless draw at Eibar on September 12 before picking up an impressive 2-1 home victory over Valencia last weekend to move into fourth spot in the table.
Iago Aspas scored twice against Los Che, and it does appear that Celta will have to rely on the Spaniard heavily this season due to their lack of genuine goalscoring options in the final third of the field.
The Sky Blues only just survived in the top flight during the 2019-20 campaign, ultimately finishing the season in 17th position, just one point clear of 18th-place Leganes.
Celta have not actually beaten Valladolid in Spain's top flight since April 2014 but three of their last four meetings at this level of football have finished all square.
Real Valladolid La Liga form: DL
Celta Vigo La Liga form: DW
Team News
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Valladolid will be without the services of Javi Moyano and Joaquin Fernandez until at least the middle of next month with muscular and hamstring injuries respectively, meaning that Sergio will need to change his defence for this weekend's contest.
Ruben Alcaraz and Kiko Olivas are also absent for the home side, who are likely to again line up in a 4-2-3-1 formation with Sergi Guardiola, Waldo Rubio, Oscar Plano and Orellana operating in the final third of the field.
The absences of Moyano and Joaquin could allow Luis Perez and Javier Sanchez to come into the XI.
As for Celta, goalkeepers Ruben Blanco and Sergio Alvarez remain on the sidelines through injury, meaning that Ivan Villar will retain his position between the sticks.
There are not expected to be any surprises in the away side's starting team, with Emre Mor and Nolito likely to support Aspas in attack, while summer arrival Renato Tapia should again line up in the middle of the park.
That said, head coach Garcia also has options in the shape of Brais Mendez and Okay Yokuslu.
Real Valladolid possible starting lineup:
Roberto; Perez, Sanchez, Bruno, Martinez; Michel, Fede; Plano, Orellana, Rubio; Guardiola
Celta Vigo possible starting lineup:
Villar; Mallo, Aidoo, Murillo, Olaza; Suarez, Tapia, Beltran, Nolito; Aspas, Mor
We say: Real Valladolid 1-1 Celta Vigo
As mentioned, three of the last four La Liga meetings between these two teams have finished level, and we are struggling to separate them this weekend. A point apiece would not be the worst outcome for either side, and we are not expecting too much drama at Estadio Municipal José Zorrilla.
Top betting tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting a home win in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Home Win:data
Matt Law
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 39.94%. A win for Real Valladolid had a probability of 30.51% and a draw had a probability of 29.5%.
The most likely scoreline for a Celta Vigo win was 0-1 with a probability of 13.76%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (7.96%) and 1-2 (7.74%). The likeliest Real Valladolid win was 1-0 (11.56%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.37%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with a 13.4% likelihood.
