Celta Vigo vs. Atletico Madrid Betting Preview – LaLiga, October 17, 2020

Celta opened the new LaLiga campaign with a win and a couple of draws, but then suffered a pair of defeats to Barcelona and Osasuna, without scoring a single goal along the way and conceding five in return. After barely escaping relegation last year, the Sky Blues are hoping to play a more prominent role in the league this time around, but they are in the 13th place at the moment.

Atletico Madrid, on the other side, dismantled Granada in the first game of the season as they scored six goals, but Los Colchoneros failed to score in the following two matches against Huesca and Villarreal in two stalemate draws. Diego Simeone’s side brought Luis Suarez from Barcelona to strengthen the attack after Alvaro Morata left for Juventus, and the Uruguayan striker already scored two goals with an assist.

In the following article, you can read my Celta Vigo vs. Atletico Madrid betting pick and check out the latest news, stats, and H2H record.

Following a 3-0 home loss to Barcelona a fortnight before the international break, Celta Vigo now has a mixed record of W2, D2, L2, as a LaLiga home outsider since the beginning of 2019/20. Notably, they did take points from three of their four LaLiga home duels versus the top four teams of the previous campaign (W1, D2, L1), including a 1-1 stalemate with Atletico Madrid late in the season.

That draw was one of seven occasions in which Celta lost points from the 13 LaLiga matches in which they scored the opening goal (W6, D5, L2) – one of the worst conversion rates of the year. A second-half LaLiga goal difference of -4 in 2020/21 doesn’t inspire confidence in an improvement upon those numbers in this new season.

Oscar Garcia will be without Sergio Alvarez (knee), Ruben Blanco (Achilles tendon), Hugo Mallo (muscle), and Kevin Vazquez (calf), while David Junca (thigh) and Jose Fontan (arm) are questionable to play.

Atletico Madrid’s unhealthy addiction to low-scoring draws continues throughout this campaign. Los Colchoneros played 13 draws of under 2.5 total goals in the previous LaLiga season, eight of them away from home, and have followed it up this time around with straight 0-0 results before the international break.

As a result, they ended 2019/20 with a win-rate of only 37.50% as a traveling favorite (W6, D8, L2), and will be desperate for their opening victory on the road in this LaLiga campaign. However, scoring in all but one of their previous nine LaLiga away games could help them find their first league win at Estadio de Balaídos since 2017/18 (L1, D1).

Diego Simeone cannot count on Sime Vrsaljko (knee), but the rest of the players are healthy and ready to feature on Saturday.

Celta recorded only one victory in the last ten H2H duels, and I don’t think they will get three points on Saturday after displaying a couple of weak performances lately. Although Atletico failed to score in the last two games and scored just one goal in the previous two H2Hs, I am backing the visitors to score at least two this time around. Celta’s defense showed a lot of weaknesses in the last two losses to Barcelona and Osasuna, and I think the hosts will not keep the clean sheet here.