H2H: Villarreal vs Celta Vigo – Prediction (La Liga

Preview and Teams Comparison.

Villarreal lost home and away against Celta de Vigo last season, as many defeats as they had suffered in their previous 12 matches against them in the top-flight (W7 D3 L2).

Aiming to complete a run of 12 consecutive La Liga (LL) home fixtures without a single loss for the first time since 2010/11, Villarreal have failed to score in just one of their last 21 home league matches. The ‘Yellow Submarine’ also possess LL’s second-best offensive home record, after scoring 2.83 goals per-home fixture to date.

With that good form behind them, there is reason to believe they can rebalance their slightly negative LL H2H record against Celta Vigo (W10, D5, L11). There should be goals one way or another in any case, as 2008 is the last time that Villarreal registered back-to-back goalless draws at home. Villarreal striker Gerard Moreno is the joint-second top scorer in LL with eight goals so far. Fifty percent of those were scored from the 76th minute onwards.

Stat attack: Villarreal are yet to concede a goal in the opening 30 minutes of a home game this LL campaign. Celta have scored under 1.5 goals in each of their previous ten away league fixtures. Four of the last five LL H2Hs held here have featured five goals precisely.

By contrast, Celta have tasted victory only twice across their last 33 LL road trips (D9, L22). In fact, their 4-1 loss at Barcelona in their last LL away outing made it 18 consecutive road trips without a win in the league.

Scoring first in this game could be vital to Celta’s chances of turning their fortunes around, especially as ten of their last 12 LL fixtures have produced under 2.5 goals. Encouragingly though, ‘Os Célticos’ have failed to score in just one of their last seven competitive trips to Estadio de la Cerámica. Celta’s Iago Aspas has scored two goals in the league so far, both of which came after the hour mark, but Celta haven’t won any of the last six away LL games he’s netted in (D2, L4).