Elche vs Celta Vigo prediction: SPAIN: LaLiga betting tips on match 2023-01-05 17:30.
Elche’s home fans will get their first chance to welcome the club’s fifth manager of 2022/23 after Pablo MachĂn’s return to La Liga (LL) resulted in a 2-0 loss away to 11-time champions AtlĂ©tico Madrid. MachĂn praised the competitive nature of his brigade against one of the strongest sides AtlĂ©tico can offer, despite their defensive unit folding shortly after captain Gonzalo VerdĂş was sent off.
Alas, the rock-bottom side still took one step closer to relegation amid the second-worst 15-game start to a LL season in history (D4, L11) which now has them eight points adrift of 19th place, though keeping a first-half clean sheet in that match for just the third time this LL season will be something to build upon. This upcoming fixture against fellow relegation contenders Celta Vigo appears a vital opportunity then to keep their survival hopes alive. Elche should at least offer another competitive showing, illustrated by the fact that their three losses to bottom-half clubs after 15 rounds (D3, L3) all came via a single goal.
Celta are yet to benefit from a mid-season change of manager as far as LL is concerned, with new boss Carlos Carvalhal yet to transfer some early round Copa Del Rey thrashings into a league victory. Their equal-worst start to a league campaign this century (by points earned) had them starting this round one point above the relegation places, but perhaps most worryingly, they were also at least four points adrift of 15th place.
To add to their concerns, Celta appear the most likely club to surrender all three points to Elche for the first time this season, having suffered exactly the same winless record as their visitors (D3, L5, GD -8) over the last eight rounds of league football. And after failing to convert a half-time lead into victory for the second time in four LL games during their 1-1 draw with Sevilla in the last round, they too struggled during the second half of games late into 2022.
Key battle: Elche goalkeeper Édgar BadĂa must be getting increasingly desperate to end his 18-game LL run without a clean sheet but could be kept busy by Celta’s Gabri Veiga, who is aiming for his fifth goalscoring appearance in an 11-game period in LL.
Hot stat: All but one of the eight LL H2Hs this century (since 2013/14) have produced two or fewer total goals.