Celta Vigo vs Valencia Prediction & Betting Tips (3 January)

At home, Celta Vigo 7th is very often intractable, but recently, it conceded three defeats in a row in all competitions, against the two Catalan clubs in La Liga: FC Barcelona 2-4 and Espanyol 0-1 and in the Europa League for the arrival of Bologna 1-2. Fortunately, Vigo had put the church back in the center of the village by beating Bilbao 2-0. An unconfirmed success on the previous day with a little-expected draw on the pitch of promoted Real Oviedo 0-0. A few days before this poor performance, the Galicians experienced real disillusionment when they left the Copa del Rey at the round of 16 stage, beaten by Albacete on penalties. A year ago to the day, Carlos Corberan took over this Valencia team, resident in the red zone.

The results after 365 days, better in the 2nd part of the season last year but no confirmation after 17 matches played this season. The Ché club is still part of the bottom of La Liga, in 17th position with only 16 points, a step ahead of Girona, first-relegation. Before the Christmas break, the Blanquinegros contracted a draw at home for the reception of Mallorca 1-1, a fourth successive match without finding the recipe for success after a setback at the Metropolitano against Atlético Madrid 2-1 and two sharing of points with Sevilla at home 1-1 and on the turf of Rayo Vallecano 1-1. The only good news remains the qualification for the 1/8th finals of the Copa del Rey, obtained at the expense of Sporting Gijon, a 0-2 victory. 

Seriously injured before the winter break, attackers Borja Iglesias (5 goals, 2 assists) and Pablo Duran (2 goals), midfielder Sotelo and defenders Carlos Dominguez and Ristic will possibly be absent from this first meeting of 2026. On the other hand, the former Barcelona players Alonso and Mingueza have a chance of starting in the same vein as Starfelt without forgetting the winger on loan from Bayern Munich Bryan Zaragoza (0 goals in La Liga) and Willot Swedberg (3 pawns in La Liga). On the Valencia side, no departure for the CAN but injuries to report with defender Cömert and goalkeeper Dimitrievski. For the second city, it is not very important for the workforce since it is second in the hierarchy, overtaken by Agirrezabala.

The full-back Thierry Rendall (Correia) will be a good support, as will his sidekick José Gaya (captain), the midfielders Pepelu, Guerra and Santamaria without forgetting the offensive players like Hugo Duro (6 goals in La Liga), Arnaut Danjuma (3 goals), Lopez (3 goals) and Luis Rioja (1 goal, 3 goals). The probable line-ups for Celta Vigo - Valencia FC: Celta Vigo : Radu - Rodriguez, Starfelt, Alonso - Rueda, Roman, Moriba, Carreira (or Mingueza) - Swedberg, Iglesias (or Jutgla), Zaragoza.Valencia: Agirrezabala - Rendall, Tarrega, Copete, Gaya - Pepelu, Ugrinic - Rioja, Almeida, Beltran - Duro.