Next Friday, 26th of September 2014, the extremely motivated Celta de Vigo will travel to Alicante to measure forces with Elche at the Estadio Manuel Martinez Valero for round six of the Spanish Liga BBVA, on a match where the visitors will surely want to extend their recent fantastic run.

After granting an excellent draw at Vicente Calderón against the current La Liga champions, Atlético Madrid, Celta snatched a very important win over Deportivo on the Derby Galego last Tuesday’s night at Balaídos. The home side entered the match at full speed and Nolito gave them an early lead on a remarkable solo effort after an assist by Larrivey. Celta controlled the match during the first-half and could have scored again when Orellana’s free kick passed just inches above the crossbar. Eduardo Berizzo displayed his usual 4-3-3 system with Radoja, Krohn-Dehli and Álex López forming the midfield triangle and Nolito, Orellana and Larrivey up in the front. After the break, Celta lost some stamina and allowed Deportivo to score the equalizer by Cuenca on the 55th minute. Los Celestes bounced back once again and Larrivey restore some fairness to the scoreboard when he netted in his side’s second of the night on a powerful header after a Nolito’s corner kick. Just as everyone was already celebrating the match’s outcome, in the dying moments of the game the referee awarded a penalty to Deportivo, but the Bosnian midfielder Medunjanin failed to overcome an inspired Sérgio Álvarez.

At the end of five league matches, Toto Berizzo’s Celta remain unbeaten but they will need to work hard if they want to extend their moment when they visit Elche next Friday, as the Franjiverdes tend to be a fairly complicated team when playing at home in front of their supporters.

As for Elche, the Comunidad Valenciana team was completely hammered at Santiago Bernábeu by an utterly inspired Cristiano Ronaldo that keeps on carrying Real Madrid on his shoulders. Although they managed to obtain an early lead, the Franjiverdes lost 5-1, as they weren’t able to cope with Real’s crushing pressure.

Elche are not going through a very positive moment as they lost their last two league matches and conceed nine goals in just three games.

When both team measured forces at Martinez Valero last season, Elche grabbed a narrow 1-0 win, although Celta dominated almost the entire match. Judging by Elche’s and Celta’s recent performances, the Galician team have to be considered favourites for the next Friday’s clash.

Elche

Stats: W-1 L-3 D-1

Recent Form - LLWDL

Celta

Stats: W-2 L-0 D-3

Recent Form - WDDWD

Possible Line-ups

Elche (4-2-3-1) - Tyton - Suárez - Roco - Lombán - Albácar - Mosquera - Adrián - Coro - Fajr - Garry Rodrigues - Jonathas

Celta de Vigo (4-3-3) - Sérgio Álvarez - Planas - Fontàs - Cabral - Mallo - Augusto Fernández - Radoja - Krohn Dehli - Hernández - Nolito - Larrivey

Prediction

Elche 1 Celta de Vigo 2