Celta Vigo vs Villarreal Predictions, Betting Tips and Match Previews

This is an interesting game and perhaps the hardest to call in La Liga this weekend. Ordinarily Celta would be favourites thanks to their strong home record, but with this game sandwiched between the two legs of their Europa League tie with Krasnodar, Villarreal will fancy they can inflict a rare home defeat on them. With the best defensive record in the league, Villarreal should at least be able to frustrate their hosts and a low-scoring game looks likely.

Celta face a long trip to Russia this week and with a slender 2-1 1st Leg lead may again be tempted to rest some important players in this one. They are looking a little too far back in La Liga to seriously challenge for European football so are increasingly likely to prioritise the Europa League, the further they go in it. They have been a bit too dependent on the goal-scoring prowess of Iago Aspas this term and have tended to rest him around key European games. If he doesn’t play, they may really struggle to find a breakthrough against this organised Villarreal side that has conceded just 0.73 goals per game in La Liga and only 0.58 away from home, which is a brilliant record.

The Yellow Submarine are also bolstered by the return of key centre-back Mateo Musacchio here, which will make them even tougher to break down. In difficult away games this season, they’ve adopted a really cautious approach and it has regularly paid off. Last month alone they kept clean sheets in tough games away at Sevilla, Real Sociedad and Roma and that should give them great belief coming into this game.

Villarreal don’t score that many goals though. They only managed 2 in those 3 games and may look to defend deep, keep possession and hopefully nick a goal again here, particularly with Celta likely to tire in the latter stages following their exertions on Thursday night. They’ve only scored 1.08 goals per away game this term and the forward department is definitely their main weakness.

Villarreal’s top scorer is Nicola Sansone with just 7 goals and he has really suffered a dip in form since making a bright start to his Villarreal career, although injuries have played their part. Often their best attacking play comes from midfield and that may be their most likely path to a goal here. Their next highest scorer is winger Roberto Soriano and he has scored in each of their last 2 games, so backing Roberto Soriano to score anytime at 7/2 looks pretty good.

The visitors’ early departure from the Europa League could prove to be something of a blessing in disguise and it certainly gives them more chance of delivering the goods in this match. They are capable of frustrating even the best attacking sides and keeping things tight, so this game isn’t likely to produce much goalmouth action.

Celta are a side that is perhaps more suited to playing attacking teams. They failed to score in 180 minutes of their Copa del Rey Semi-Final against a very cautious Alaves side last month and Villarreal play a similar way, on their travels at least. Therefore, backing Under 2.5 goals at 7/10 looks to offer value in this one.