Real Sociedad vs Celta Vigo prediction: SPAIN: LaLiga betting tips on match 2023-08-18 15:00.
Real Sociedad took less than five minutes to open their La Liga (LL) scoring account for 2023/24 before being held to a 1-1 draw with Girona, scoring exactly once for the fourth time in five league-opening fixtures (W1, D3, L1). “The game slipped away from us,” manager Imanol Alguacil lamented afterwards as his side bucked a trend having won their three prior LL games in which they had scored first.
Solid home form was a key driver towards last season’s fourth-place finish and as they take on Celta Vigo, La Real are unbeaten in league action at the Reale Arena since early February (W6, D4), despite not once scoring more than twice during that sequence. As they haven’t done that here against Celta since November 2013 (W5, D2, L3), their defenders may need to be on high alert.
This is a first managerial H2H between Alguacil and the much-travelled Rafael BenĂtez, whose return to Spain began with a 2-0 defeat to Osasuna as Celta failed to win a league-opening game for the eighth consecutive campaign. It’s therefore been an uninspiring start to their centenary season as they also seemingly prepare to lose highly-rated midfielder Gabri Veiga to Napoli.
All of which hints that the Sky Blues could have their work cut out to repeat or better last term’s 13th-place finish, but BenĂtez could quickly lift some of the early doom and gloom by ending a run of five consecutive LL away defeats and six such matches without a win (D1, L5). Celta did draw here last term, albeit via an injury-time own goal, so there is some hope to draw upon.
Players to watch: Sociedad’s Mikel Oyarzabal has netted seven career goals against Celta, including opening the scoring before the 15th minute in the last two league meetings here. But leading the way in terms of scoring in this H2H is Celta’s Iago Aspas (11 goals), with his last four LL strikes against anybody all arriving after the 40th minute.
Hot streak: Celta haven’t lost their first LL away game of the season since 2017/18 (W2, D3).