Celta – Athletic Bilbao

Celta and Athletic will not score many goals

On Sunday 29 January, Celta take on Athletic at home. The Basques secured a trip to the semi-finals of the Copa Del Rey in midweek. They beat Valencia 3-1 away in spectacular style. The attacking group showed themselves in all their glory. The Williams brothers and Muniaín gave the fans hope of a quick rectification in the Spanish championship. Ernesto Valverde's charges are struggling in La Liga so far in 2023. There have been no victories so far. The crisis streak has relegated Athletic to eighth place, although there was a time at the beginning of the season when the team were in the top three. In the last round, Athletic put up a decent fight but still lost to Real Madrid. The Basques created a fair number of goalscoring chances. This is certainly a positive factor. The leaders are beginning to find themselves after a long pause. The big problem for the club remains the injury of key defender Iñigo Martínez. The player is at risk of missing the next match as well. There are no other losses, but there is fatigue after the cup match. Valverde cannot count on a serious rotation. At most he can replace two or three players without losing quality. In many ways, Celta unexpectedly ends the first round as a contender for relegation. A change of coach has not helped much, either. The appointment of Carlos Carvalhal has not changed the situation globally. The club lost a very important match in the last round to rivals Mallorca. It cannot be said that the result was fair. Celta were not weaker in terms of the number of chances created. The Andalusians have been playing with more emphasis on defence since the league resumption. The team has not conceded more than one goal in any match. The level of players in the attacking line-up enables us to count on a quick climb up the table. Iago Aspas has found a quality assistant in the form of Gaby Veiga. The young midfielder has accounted for six goals this season. Interestingly, Celta have the widest goal difference in terms of conceded goals and danger at home. According to XG, the club should have conceded nine fewer goals. In other words, it can be said that Celta have been terribly unlucky this season. The defence is sixth in the league in terms of reliability, if you take the advanced indicators. Athletic are in second place, behind only Barcelona. In this meeting, the weary Basques and the team in serious need of points in their fight for survival will meet. That said, the two clubs rank among the top six in terms of defensive quality. Logically, the bookmakers give a base total of two goals for this encounter. Most likely, one goal will be decisive.