Real Madrid will be looking to return to winning ways in La Liga when they host a revitalised Celta Vigo on Saturday night in their first match of 2021.
Zinedine Zidane's side will enter the contest off the back of a 1-1 draw with Elche on Wednesday night, while Celta continued their excellent form with a 2-1 success over Huesca.
Match preview
© Reuters
Madrid would have been looking to make it six straight league victories on Wednesday night, and the champions took the lead at Estadio Manuel Martinez Valero in the 20th minute through Luka Modric.
Elche levelled the scores early in the second period, though, and Zidane's side could not find a second as they failed to win in Spain's top flight for the first time since the end of November.
Los Blancos have impressed in recent weeks, though, recording wins over Sevilla, Atletico Madrid, Athletic Bilbao, Eibar and Granada to rise up the table into second position.
The reigning champions are only two points behind leaders Atletico Madrid, but Diego Simeone's side have two games in hand on their rivals, which is an indication of their strength at the summit heading into 2021.
Madrid will be eyeing their 11th league victory of the season this weekend, but they were held to a 1-1 draw by Celta in the corresponding match during the 2019-20 campaign and will be wary of the in-form visitors.
© Reuters
Celta's form since Eduardo Coudet became the club's new head coach has been terrific, winning six and losing just one of their eight fixtures under the 46-year-old.
The Sky Blues have risen from just outside the relegation zone into eighth position and are now just two points behind sixth-placed Barcelona, which is a demonstration of their turnaround.
A record of six wins, five draws and five defeats has brought them 23 points, and they have won five of their last six matches in the league, including a 2-1 success over Huesca on Wednesday night.
O Celtina will certainly be the underdogs heading into Saturday's contest, but Madrid's dropped points against Elche has given them reason to be optimistic, and there is no question that the visitors are capable of harming the champions due to their quality in the final third of the field.
Real Madrid La Liga form: WWWWWD
Real Madrid form (all competitions): WWWWWD
Celta Vigo La Liga form: WWWWDW
Celta Vigo form (all competitions): WWWWDW
Team News
© Reuters
Madrid will again be without the services of Rodrygo Goes due to a hamstring problem, but the champions are otherwise in excellent shape heading into this contest.
Eden Hazard featured off the bench against Huesca and is again expected to be among the substitutes here, with Zidane expected to keep with the bulk of the side that started on Wednesday night.
There is likely to be a change at left-back, though, with Ferland Mendy replacing Marcelo, while there could also be an alteration on the left of the attack with Vinicius Junior potentially coming in for Marco Asensio.
As for Celta, Kevin Vazquez, Sergio Alvarez and David Junca remain unavailable for selection, but the visitors did not pick up any fresh issues against Huesca.
Coudet has plenty of options for change, with the likes of Fran Beltran, Miguel Baeza and Okay Yokuslu all pushing for starts, having featured off the bench on Wednesday night.
The visitors are expected to go with their strongest available side, though, meaning that Nolito, Iago Aspas, Santi Mina and Denis Suarez should all be in the first XI.
Real Madrid possible starting lineup:
Courtois; Carvajal, Varane, Ramos, Mendy; Modric, Casemiro, Kroos; Vinicius, Benzema, Vazquez
Celta Vigo possible starting lineup:
Blanco; Mallo, Araujo, Murillo, Olaza; Mendez, D Suarez, Tapia, Nolito; Mina, Aspas
We say: Real Madrid 2-1 Celta Vigo
Celta's recent form cannot be ignored, and there is no question that they have made huge progress under their new manager. Madrid will be determined to return to winning ways, though, and we just fancy the capital giants to edge towards an important three points in their first game of 2021.
Top betting tip
Matt Law
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Real Madrid win with a probability of 66.77%. A draw had a probability of 20% and a win for Celta Vigo had a probability of 13.25%.
The most likely scoreline for a Real Madrid win was 2-0 with a probability of 12.45%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (12.23%) and 2-1 (9.66%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (9.49%), while for a Celta Vigo win it was 0-1 (4.66%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with a 12.5% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 2-0 win for Real Madrid in this match.
