Southampton vs Celta Vigo Predictions, Betting Tips and Match Previews

Celta de Vigo will travel to England’s south coast as they prepare to take on Southampton as both teams continue with their pre-season matches.

Southampton will once again be a part of England’s top flight as they managed to avoid relegation by the skin of their teeth when Mark Hughes took over from a failing Mauricio Pelegrino in March. Despite his appointment, the Saints continued to struggle throughout the rest of the season but enjoyed a very good FA Cup run that came to an end after reaching the semi-finals, falling to eventual runners-up Manchester United.

After a rough few months, Mark Hughes will be keen to finally take charge of the club from day one and ensure that his squad is fit for the season ahead. However, the Welsh manager will have to do without Dušan Tadić, who left the club for Ajax at the start of the month. Tadić was joint top goalscorer last season along with Charlie Austin, scoring 7 goals each. Southampton signed Norway international Mohamed Elyounoussi from Basel, as well as Stuart Armstrong from Celtic, Angus Gunn from Mancehster City and Jannik Vestergaard from Borussia Mönchengladbach.

Southampton’s pre-season form has been an inconsistent one. After a surprising 3-3 draw with Schalke, who were runners-up in the Bundesliga last season, the Saints went on to beat Chinese side Jiangsu Suning 3-2, followed by a 3-0 defeat to none other than Frank Lampard’s Derby County and a 2-0 victory last week against Dijon.

Saints fans will be eager to see their team perform as well as they have done this pre-season, and provided that Southampton can find a suitable replacement for Tadić- whether it be Elyounoussi or not- and Charlie Austin can remain fit, they shouldn’t experience any major problems.

Celta de Vigo’s pre-season has been short and unimpressive so far. Antonio Mohamed was appointed as their manager following the end of last season, replacing Juan Carlos Unzué. The Argentine has won the Mexican championship with both Tijuana and América and has stated that his goal is to “build” on the dream of making it to Europe next season.

Celta have sold some key players which includes Daniel Wass to Valencia, Sergi Gómez to Sevilla, Borja Iglesias to Espanyol and Jonny Castro to Atlético Madrid.  In turn they’ve brought in some unknown faces in the European scene, such as Néstor Araujo from Santos Laguna and Okay Yokuslu from Trabzonspor. The manager has also confirmed that club captain Iago Aspas will remain with them, despite rumours of his departure after a sensational season in which he scored 22 goals- more than any other Spaniard in the league.

Celta have only played two matches under Mohamed. The first match was a 1-1 draw with 2^nd division side Córdoba, and then a dull 0-0 against Sporting Braga. The lack of firepower could be the main reason why los Célticos have only managed to score one brace so far, but with the return of Aspas to training, they should start to see some mild improvement before the season starts up once again.

Southampton have the upper hand here. The quality of their signings is far superior to Celta’s, and the Saints have also had two weeks more of pre-season and one match more under their belt. Celta will have to start getting the goals to flow and remain optimistic before commencing their La Liga campaign against Espanyol on the 18^th of August. For this reason alone I’m backing Southampton to get the job done and win 3-1, and the sheer amount of goals in in the Saints’ friendlies means we could see a fair few of them, seeing as Mark Hughes’ squad can score a fair amount, but concede almost as many- which is why over 2.5 is an interesting bet to make.