Football – Spain – La Liga
Sunday 17th May 2015 – Kickoff: 1900hrs
As mentioned in my previous La liga preview, there’s just two games remaining of the Spanish top flight season and fourth placed Valencia are still a slim chance of claiming the third Champions League spot as they’re four points adrift of Atletico Madrid who play host to Barcelona at the weekend.
This is surely Valencia’s very last chance of reducing this points deficit but first they must take all three points against Celta Vigo who come to town this Sunday. Overall, Valencia have lost just once in their last fifteen matches, while at home they’ve lost just once all season amidst an overall record of an excellent 15-2-1 41/9 and much of their success this season has been built around a sturdy defence that has kept a total of ten clean sheets.
Their attacking stocks include the likes of Parejo, Alcacer, Negredo and Piatti amongst others, but they’re very capable of scoring goals which has helped them win their last three on the trot on home turf, scoring 10 goals and conceding just 1 in reply as an example.
Visitors Celta Vigo will be aiming for a top half finish this season again following last season’s final finish of 9th place which is a great improvement upon the season prior where they narrowly avoided relegation.
Celta Vigo have done enough all season to stay out of trouble and although they lack the consistency of the better teams in the division, there won’t be any last-day dramas for the visitors this time around. Recent wins over Rayo Vallecano, Eibar and Malaga were welcome wins and they’re actually unbeaten in their last four on the road too.
Their overall away record stands at 5-6-7 16/21 but I do wonder if they can make the step up here today away at a team of Valencia’s quality over the course of ninety minutes.
This brings me to my pick then, and although Valencia may not cover the -1 handicap, I’m confident they can take all three points in what could perhaps be a 1-0 win for the hosts.
Pick: Valencia straight win @ 1.62 Bet Victor
