On Monday, 27 January, Alaves will play at home with Celta. The hosts are still much closer to the relegation zone, in fact, there is a direct threat. Celta broke away from the seventeenth line on five points, and their opponent still has a reserve of only one point.

Alaves - the king of draws in recent rounds. Curiously, the outsider does not have zero peaceful outcomes - only productive. In the last seven matches - five times they shared points. But with victories was quite bad until the last round: the winless streak reached as many as eight meetings. The club on the background of failures survived the resignation of the coach, but the new specialist Eduardo Codet long waited for the first success. Initially, Alaves started the season with Luis Plaza.

Global tactical revolution did not follow, but now the team is trying to play in a more entertaining way. They manage to score in almost every match. The scheme 4-2-3-1 is used. 35-year-old striker Kike Garcia is having a crazy season. The forward has already scored eight goals - the main striking force of Alaves. According to statistical indicators, the club is a clear mid-table side the quality of play is higher than that of the teams from the bottom of the table.

Celta were going quite steadily, but fell under a difficult stretch. First came an away defeat to Rayo Vallecano, then gave a lot of effort in the cup clash with Real Madrid, but lost in overtime, and then suffered a minimal defeat to Atletico.

The mini-crisis has objective reasons. Firstly, the team got into a difficult calendar, and secondly, it was not possible to count on the still top scorer Iago Aspas. The star veteran risks missing the next match. In addition, Celta have two important defenders suspended: Oscar Mingesa and Marcos Alonso are serving a suspension.

Now the main striker of the club from Vigo is Borja Iglesias. The forward has a good performance - five goals, although he was often substituted.

Alaves have their own losses: the main goalkeeper Antonio Sivera and midfielder Antonio Blanco will be absent.

The rivals have a rather curious history of personal meetings. Alaves have beaten Celta twice in the last ten matches - two wins were just at home. The club from Vigo dominates in this confrontation. Even defeats of 3:0, 4:0 and 6:0 have been reported.

Both teams play more often on the total more in the current season: Celta has 13 such meetings; Alaves has one less. Bookmakers expect now a very cautious confrontation. The bet on the total more is given for 2.15. The odds look overvalued. In five of the last six matches the total was also broken.