Las Palmas will host Celta Vigo on Monday in La Liga with both teams level on points. Both teams have five points after winning one, drawing twice, and losing four of their seven league games this year. Las Palmas is near the bottom of the standings, while Celta is in the first spot.
Preview (Las Palmas vs. Celta Vigo)
Las Palmas was second in the Segunda Division last season and earned a return to Spain’s top division. They are attempting to win back-to-back seasons at this level for the first time since 2018. La Union Deportiva has struggled to get going so far this season. They have picked up just five points from seven games to sit in 18th place. They come into this game coming off a 2-0 loss to Real Madrid. Las Palmas have dropped three of their past four league matches.
Garcia Pimienta’s team has only scored twice this year, which is cause for serious concern. They amazingly have the joint-second-best defensive record with just six goals allowed. In their last three league encounters with Celta, Los Amarillos have gone down in defeat each time. It included a 5-2 loss in the equivalent fixture during the 2017–18 season. The Sky Blues took the lead thanks to an own goal from Rafa Marin. Samu equalized in the 73rd minute to give Celta a 1-1 draw with Alaves on Thursday.
In addition to earning five points from their seven league contests this season, Rafael Benitez’s team has also scored seven goals and given up eleven. Celta started their season with a loss to Osasuna at home before picking up a valuable point against Real Sociedad on the road, but they were then defeated by Real Madrid at home. At the beginning of September, Benitez’s team defeated Almeria 3-2. Since then, they have only earned one point. They lost to Mallorca and Barcelona before drawing with Alaves the most recent time out. Celta hasn’t competed outside of La Liga since 2012.
Team News
Javi Munoz, Omenuke Mfulu, Sandro Ramirez, Benito Ramirez, Alberto Moleiro, and Fabio Gonzalez are now all out for Las Palmas due to injuries. However, Mika Marmol, 22, will be reintroduced to the starting lineup on Monday night after serving the suspension that prevented him from playing against Real Madrid. Mfulu and Munoz’s injuries will allow Kirian Rodriguez and Maximo Perrone to enter the lineup, but Jonathan Viera and Cristian Herrera should continue to start this match.
Luca da la Torre, 25, won’t be available for the visitors either because he was sent off in his team’s 1-1 draw with Alaves the previous time they played. The majority of the players who began on Thursday are anticipated to keep their spots, including Iago Aspas, who has yet to score this season. Head coach Rafael Benitez is expected to resist the urge to rearrange his lineup. Meanwhile, Renato Tapia is most likely to gain from De la Torre’s absence in this situation. We don’t anticipate this to be a classic because Las Palmas has had such a difficult time scoring this season while being a very strong defensive team. Celta needs a victory to launch their campaign.
Las Palmas 0 – 0 Celta Vigo
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