Celta Vigo vs Athletic Bilbao Prediction, Betting Tips & Preview

Preview

Joel Amorim Dec 29, 2015 @ 02:22 am

Next Wednesday, 30th of December 2015, an extremely motivated Celta de Vigo will go head-to-head with Athletic Bilbao at Los Balaídos for Round 17 of the Spanish Liga BBVA.

After clawing a place in the next stage of Copa del Rey by overcoming Almeria, Celta de Vigo granted their ninth win of the season on their visit to Granada before the Christmas break. The Galician team’s strong first-half performance allowed them to secure the three points against a team that tends to be fairly complicated, especially when playing at home. The versatile Chilean winger Fabian Orellana and the former Liverpool striker Iago Aspas scored Celta de Vigo’s goals at Estádio Nuevo Los Cármenes two weeks ago and they proved once again to be of the utmost importance for the Galician team.

The upcoming predictably complicated match against Athletic Bilbao will most certainly be the last that Celta’s captain, Augusto Fernández, will play for Eduardo Berizzo’s team. The Argentinean midfielder is, according to the Spanish media, on his way to play for Atlético Madrid next January. For that particular match, Berizzo is not yet certain if he will rely on Nemanja Radoja’s contribution, since he is still recovering from a groin injury.

Andreu Fontas and Nolito, on the other hand, will miss out there due to injury. As for Athletic Bilbao, the Basque team returned to wins at La Liga last round after overcoming Levante at San Mamés by 2-0. After a narrow defeat at Vicente Calderón, Athletic managed to bounce back immediately by eliminating RB Linense from the Copa del Rey and a few days later by defeating the Granotes at home.

Athletic are currently in the seventh place of La Liga, two points behind Deportivo de La Coruña, who currently occupies the last place which grants European football next season.

There are some good news for Ernesto Valverde regarding the upcoming match at Los Balaídos, as both Gorka Elustondo and Carlos Gurpegi are back in training after recovering from their respective injuries. Ibai Gomez, Susaeta and Ander Iturraspe, on the other hand, are not fully recovered from their injuries and they are in doubt next time out.

Celta de Vigo

Stats: W-4 L-1 D-0

Recent Form - WWWDW

Athletic

Stats: W-2 L-1 D-2

Recent Form - WWLDD

Possible Line-ups

Celta de Vigo (4-3-3) - Sergio Alvarez - Mallo - Gómez - Cabral - Jonny - Wass - Fernández - Sene - Orellana - Bongonda - Aspas

Athletic (4-2-3-1) - Iraizoz - De Marcos - Gurpegi - Laporte - Balenziaga - Benat - San José - Raul Garcia - Muniain - Williams - Aduriz

Injury List / Suspended Players

Celta de Vigo - Radoja (in doubt) - Fontas (inj) - Nolito (inj)

Athletic - Ibai Gomez (in doubt) - Iturraspe (in doubt) - Susaeta (in doubt)

Head-to-head matches:

League Positions