Villarreal will look to bounce back from consecutive defeats when they welcome Celta Vigo to Estadio de la Ceramica for Wednesday's La Liga contest.

The visitors, meanwhile, will have the opportunity to claim consecutive league victories for the first time since March.

Match preview

After enjoying a five-game unbeaten start to his second Villarreal tenure, Marcelino has been given a reality check in the club's last two league outings.

The 58-year-old saw his side beaten 3-0 by Real Sociedad earlier this month, before they produced a positive response to record a 3-2 win over Rennes and secure top spot of their Europa League group.

However, a trip to the Santiago Bernabeu at the weekend brought about another disappointing result, as goals from Jude Bellingham, Rodrygo, Brahim Diaz and Luka Modric made Jose Luis Morales's effort prove meaningless in a heavy 4-1 defeat.

Having achieved a top-seven finish in each of the last four seasons, Villarreal's struggles are reflected in the fact that they are in 14th place and just three points above Wednesday's opponents, who occupy 18th position ahead of this week's round of fixtures.

With their nine league matches at Estadio de la Ceramica producing just seven points, the Yellow Submarine currently share the second-worst home record with Granada and Celta, but while that statistic may not inspire confidence, they can draw inspiration from the fact that they have won their last two home meetings with Os Celestes have yielded 1-0 victories.

Although Celta may be sitting in the relegation zone, they will head into Wednesday's contest in a positive mood after they edged out Granada at the weekend to claim their first La Liga victory since beating Almeria on September 1.

Jorgen Strand Larsen's 20th-minute effort proved to be the difference in a game where Celta had to negotiate the final 10 minutes with 10 men following Iago Aspas's late red card.

After drawing their previous three league games prior to Saturday's victory, Rafael Benitez's side have now gone four La Liga matches without defeat, which is largely thanks to the fact that they have kept three clean sheets in that period.

If Os Celestes are to move away from danger, they need to start picking up wins on the road, having won just one of their eight away league games this season (D3, L4).

Benitez will be imploring his side to stay switched on for the duration of Wednesday's contest after seeing his team let in seven of their 13 away goals in the final 15 minutes.

Team News

Villarreal will go into the last match of 2023 without Matteo Gabbia, Juan Foyth, Francis Coquelin, Santi Comesana, Denis Suarez and Yeremy Pino.

Gerard Moreno is also ruled out after being forced off against Real Madrid, while Alex Baena is a doubt due to an ankle problem that resulted in his first-half withdrawal at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Experienced midfielder Etienne Capoue is another absentee, with the 35-year-old set to serve a one-match suspension for an accumulation of yellow cards.

As for the visitors, they will have to cope without the services of their talismanic forward Aspas, who is suspended for the final game of the calendar year after being shown a straight red card against Granada.

Aspas's absence could present Greece international Anastasios Douvikas with the chance to make just his third league start since joining Celta from FC Utrecht in the summer.

With Carl Starfelt a doubt following his absence from Saturday's contest, Carlos Dominguez could retain his place in central defence alongside Unai Nunez.

Villarreal possible starting lineup:
Jorgensen; Altmira, Mandi, Cuenca, Pedraza; Akhomach, Terrats, Parejo, Trigueros; Sorloth, Morales

Celta Vigo possible starting lineup:
Guaita; Vazquez, Nunez, C. Dominguez, Ristic; Mingueza, Tapia, Dotor, Bamba; Douvikas, Larsen

We say: Villarreal 1-1 Celta Vigo

After beating Granada at the weekend, Celta will go into the final match of 2023 in high spirits, and with their last two away games finishing all square, we think that the visitors will do enough to hold Villarreal to a draw.

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