Celta Vigo vs Almeria prediction: SPAIN: LaLiga betting tips on match 2023-04-01 12:00.
Celta Vigo still have an outside chance of a first European appearance in six years, after posting a 3-1 victory at Espanyol before the international break to make it five games unbeaten (W3, D2). But even though sixth place seems like a big ask for Carlos Carvalhal’s men, Celta still have three more La Liga (LL) home games to play amongst teams ending March in the bottom-five, so any slim European hopes don’t seem misplaced.
So far, they’ve avoided defeat in both prior home league clashes with such teams (W1, D1), The latter (W 3-0 vs Valladolid) is one of three shutouts across the past four rounds, and with Celta also winning by that scoreline in their last home game (vs Rayo Vallecano), they could complete a hat-trick of top-flight home wins by 3+ goals for the first time since April 1999 with another good result here!
If 19th-placed AlmerĂa are to prevent that and take anything from Abanca-BalaĂdos, they’ll need to muster up the same spirit that saw them stun Barcelona 1-0 in late February for their only win in seven (D1, L5). The sole draw during that time only came via an injury-time penalty against Cádiz last time out, though they’ve failed to score just twice across the previous ten LL rounds.
On an interesting side note, the visitors’ most recent LL away victory against a current top-flight team came against none other than Celta, way back in December 2014! But that only underlines the abject misery they’ve experienced on the road this term (D3, L10), as does the fact that eight of those losses came with a blank and/or a multi-goal margin.
Players to watch: Gabri Veiga still has hope of breaking Iago Aspas’ seven-year streak as Celta’s top scorer, staying within three LL goals of the talisman. Both men scored last time out, while Aspas also netted a second-half brace in Celta’s most recent home win. As for AlmerĂa, they had Gonzalo Melero’s injury-time composure from the spot to thank for their latest point (vs Cádiz), with the midfielder now failing just once in 11 all-time spot kicks.
Hot stat: AlmerĂa coach Rubi has a 50% draw rate in prior managerial H2Hs vs Celta Vigo (W2, D3, L1).