Leganes and Celta Vigo will both be looking to bounce back from defeats when they continue their respective 2024-25 La Liga campaigns with a contest at Estadio Municipal de Butarque on Sunday afternoon.
The hosts, who are 17th in the La Liga table on eight points, will enter the contest off the back of a 3-1 loss to Atletico Madrid, while 10th-placed Celta suffered a 2-1 defeat to Real Madrid in their last match.
Match preview
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Leganes secured a return to the top flight for the 2024-25 campaign courtesy of their Segunda Division title success last term, and they will now be aiming to make it successive seasons at this level for the first time since 2020.
El Lega have a record of one win, five draws and four defeats from their 10 league matches this season, with a total of eight points leaving them in 17th spot in the table, level on points with 18th-placed Real Valladolid.
Finding the back of the net has been an issue this season, with Borja Jimenez's side only managing six goals in their 10 matches, which is the worst attacking record in the division.
Leganes brought a three-game unbeaten run into their contest with Atletico last weekend, but they suffered a 3-1 defeat at Wanda Metropolitano, with their only victory of the season coming at home to Las Palmas at the end of August.
El Lega beat Celta 3-2 when the two sides last locked horns at Estadio Municipal de Butarque in December 2019, but they were beaten 1-0 in the last meeting between the teams in February 2020.
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Celta have not actually overcome Leganes away from home in Spain's top flight since January 2017, and they will also enter this match off the back of a defeat, going down 2-1 at home to the champions Real Madrid last weekend.
The Sky Blues have made a solid start to the season, though, picking up 13 points from their 10 matches courtesy of a record of four wins, one draw and five defeats, which has left them in 10th spot in the table.
Claudio Giraldez's side have not had much trouble finding the back of the net this season, scoring 17 times, with only Villarreal (18), Real Madrid (21) and Barcelona (33) boasting stronger attacking records.
However, Celta have conceded 17 goals, which is the joint-fourth worst defensive record at this stage of the campaign, and that should hand Leganes confidence despite their attacking problems this season.
The Sky Blues lost their opening three away matches of the campaign to Villarreal, Osasuna and Athletic Bilbao, but they were 1-0 winners over Las Palmas in their last fixture on their travels at the start of the month.
Team News
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Leganes only have one injury doubt ahead of this match, with Naim Garcia battling a muscular problem.
At this stage, it appears unlikely that Garcia will make the squad, but head coach Jimenez has no fresh concerns, so it is expected to be the same group of players that were available for the game with Atletico.
There could be a couple of changes to the side that took to the field for the first whistle against Atletico, with Roberto Lopez and Munir El Haddadi potentially being introduced, but experienced forward Sebastien Haller is likely to continue on the bench.
As for Celta, the visitors will receive a double boost for this match, with Iago Aspas and Ilaix Moriba both available again after serving suspensions in the defeat to Real Madrid last time out.
The Sky Blues have not reported any injury problems this week, although they will once again be without the services of Luca de la Torre, with the 26-year-old out until at least next month with an ankle problem.
Aspas has scored four times in La Liga this season, and the experienced forward should return to the XI, while Hugo Sotelo may drop out of the midfield to make way for the returning Moriba.
Leganes possible starting lineup:
Dmitrovic; Rosier, Gonzalez, Nastasic, J Hernandez; El Haddadi, Neyou, R Lopez, Tapia, Cisse; De la Fuente
Celta Vigo possible starting lineup:
Guaita; Manquillo, Starfelt, Alonso; Mingueza, Beltran, Moriba, Alvarez; Aspas, Iglesias, Swedberg
We say: Leganes 0-1 Celta Vigo
Only Getafe (six) have drawn more La Liga matches than Leganes this season, and it would not be a surprise to see the points shared on Sunday afternoon. However, we just have a feeling that Celta will be able to navigate their way to all three points.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Matt Law
