Celta Vigo will be looking to return to winning ways in Spain's top flight when they welcome relegation-threatened Mallorca to Vigo on Sunday night.
The home side are currently 10th in the table, boasting 32 points from their 26 league matches this season, while Mallorca sit 16th, just five points clear of the relegation zone.
Match preview
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Celta's five-game unbeaten run in La Liga came to an end last weekend, as they suffered a 2-0 defeat at Atletico Madrid, with the result leaving them in 10th position in the table on 32 points.
The Sky Blues are only five points behind eighth-placed Athletic Bilbao on the same number of matches (26) but sit just five points ahead of 15th-placed Getafe, so there could be a lot of movement in the coming weeks.
Celta claimed eighth in Spain's top flight last term after back-to-back 17th-place finishes, and it has been another solid campaign to date, but too many draws of late have prevented them from rising up the table.
Indeed, Eduardo Coudet's side have shared the points in three of their last five league fixtures, but their recent home form has been excellent, collecting 10 points from the last 12 available, beating Espanyol, Osasuna and Rayo Vallecano, in addition to sharing the points with Levante.
Celta played out a 0-0 draw with Mallorca in the reverse match earlier this season, while the points were also shared in a 2-2 draw when they last locked horns in Vigo back in December 2019.
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Mallorca, meanwhile, eased their relegation fears with back-to-back wins over Cadiz and Athletic Bilbao last month, but they have since lost their last three in Spain's top flight to Real Betis, Valencia and Real Sociedad.
Luis Garcia's side currently sit 16th in the table, five points clear of the relegation zone, and they have some tough matches ahead, taking on Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid in two of their next four after this one.
Mallorca secured a return to this level of football by finishing second in the Segunda Division last term, and they are looking to make it back-to-back seasons at this level for the first time since 2013.
The Pirates have only picked up eight points from their 12 away league games this term, which is a concern ahead of this match, but Celta have been far from convincing at home, collecting only 15 points from 13 games, which is one of the poorer records in the division.
Mallorca are also unbeaten against Celta since March 2006, winning three and drawing four of their last seven matches in the top flight of Spanish football, which should mean that confidence is high heading into the game.
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Team News
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Celta's squad is in excellent shape at the moment, with head coach Coudet expected to again have a full complement of players available for this contest.
As a result, it is not too difficult to predict the starting side, with Iago Aspas and Santi Mina again set to operate as the front two, with Denis Suarez featuring in an advanced midfield area.
Hugo Mallo and Javier Galan will again be the full-backs for the Sky Blues, while Fran Beltran should again get the nod in the holding midfield position over Renato Tapia.
As for Mallorca, Inigo Ruiz de Galarreta and Dominik Greif will again be unavailable for selection, but the visitors will otherwise take a strong squad to Vigo.
There are not expected to be many surprises in the away side's starting XI on Sunday, with on-loan Real Madrid attacker Takefusa Kubo again set to operate off the right.
Vedat Muriqi and Dani Rodriguez are also set to keep their spots in the final third of the field, while Salva Sevilla is likely to retain his position in central midfield.
Celta Vigo possible starting lineup:
Dituro; Mallo, Aidoo, Araujo, Galan; B Mendez, Beltran, D Suarez, Cervi; Aspas, Mina
Mallorca possible starting lineup:
Rico; Maffeo, Valjent, Raillo, Olivan; Sevilla, Sanchez; Kubo, D Rodriguez, Ndiaye; Muriqi
We say: Celta Vigo 2-1 Mallorca
Celta have found it difficult to show their best form at home this season, but they will be the favourites this weekend against lowly Mallorca. We are expecting a tight match on Sunday but fancy Celta to collect all three points, which could move them into ninth position depending on Valencia's result on Saturday.
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 51.64%. A draw had a probability of 24.6% and a win for Mallorca had a probability of 23.78%.
The most likely scoreline for a Celta Vigo win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.34%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.6%) and 2-0 (9.31%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.68%), while for a Mallorca win it was 0-1 (7.12%). The actual scoreline of 4-3 was predicted with a 0.4% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Celta Vigo would win this match.
