Celta Vigo v Elche Tips | 2nd March 2015

MONDAY night’s La Liga offering pits Celta Vigo and Elche together. Mark O’Haire (@MarkOHaire) is on the look out for the best bet available.

Celta Vigo v Elche | Monday 19.45

None of the bottom eight clubs in La Liga managed to secure a vital victory at the weekend and Elche are likely to add their name to that mix when they head to a rejuvenated Celta on Monday night.

Los Franjiverdes are proudly standing in sixth in the form table across the last eight matches with Fran Escriba getting much improved performances out of his squad since the winter break (W4-D1-L3). But with their last three wins coming against Rayo, Levante and Eibar, a trip to Vigo can be considered a much tougher test for a side that tends to struggle on the road.

Since promotion from the Segunda at the end of the 2012/13 season, Elche have returned W6-D7-L17 figures from their La Liga road fixtures, failing to score on 11 occasions and keeping just four clean sheets. It’s understandable to see Celta chalked up as strong 9/20 favourites.

The Galician side have won consecutive home league games for the first time this season, shutting their opponents out in both instances. Those victories are part of a W3-D1-L0 run which has reignited Eduardo Berizzo's charges and got their campaign back on track.

Last week’s 2-0 victory over Deportivo saw Charles return to the scoresheet while Nolito is beginning to find the form that saw a Spanish national team call-up come his way in the autumn. Michael Krohn-Dehli continues to impress pulling the strings from midfield and it’s telling that Celta are fourth and sixth in the Shots and Shots-On-Target league tables for La Liga (Elche concede the second highest in both categories).

Should the hosts keep Jonathas quiet (no easy feat), they should have enough in the tank to get the job done. Elche’s Brazilian forward has scored or assisted 14 of the visitors’ 21 goals this season and remains a serious threat.

Two angles stick out for Monday night’s showdown; firstly, we can see that 10 of Elche’s 13 losses this season have arrived when they’ve failed to score. Celta have won six of their seven fixtures when keeping a clean sheet. SkyBet are offering 5/4 on the home win ‘to nil’.

And secondly, BetVictor have made Under 2.25 Goals on the Asian Goals line an 11/10 runner. With this selection, we’ll make money should fewer than three goals be netted at Balaídos with a full payout on one or zero goals being scored and half of that potential winnings coming our way if exactly two goals are netted. This table should give you a good explanation on Asian Handicap betting.

Encouragingly for us, 12/19 Celta games at Balaídos would have made us money including their last six as hosts. It’s a similar story for Elche’s last four outings as well as 7/12 dating back to November.