Sporting Gijón v Celta Vigo Betting Tips: Low-scoring affair unlikely at El Molinón

After turning things around in Ukraine to make the Europa League last-16 on Thursday night, Celta Vigo get back down to business in La Liga when they take on Gijón at El Molinón.

When Gijón have taken to the pitch this season, there’s rarely been a shortage of goals and this match is expected to bring about much of the same. At odds of 21/20, ‘Over 2.5 Goals’ is definitely a bet to go for here, while, at what looks a very generous 8/5, ‘Celta Vigo to Score Over 1.5 Goals’ also makes plenty of appeal, such has been the level of defending on show from the hosts this season.

The visitors did of course face a tough trip to Ukraine on Thursday and, naturally that will have taken plenty out of them. However, they did manage to rest a couple of their more regular starters, namely Théo Bongonda and Nemanja Radoja. Even if Eduardo Berizzo was to make a few changes here, it’s hard not to fancy Celta giving the sieve-like defence of Gijón a hard time.

Goals have very much been the order of the day of late for the hosts, both for and against, although the latter of the two certainly dominates their recent record. Considering that Gijón have conceded no less than 47 goals this season, it’s remarkable that they’re not the owners of La Liga’s worst defensive record – they’ve got both Granada and Osasuna to thank for saving their blushes there. Nevertheless, 47 conceded in just 23 matches, is an abysmal total. To say that Sporting Gijón struggle at the back is probably an understatement. 14 of those 23 have seen Sunday’s hosts concede at least two goals.

On the one hand this Gijón side are leaking goals left, right and centre, but they’re still putting a few away at the other end, especially at home. The hosts have found the net in each of their last eight and in nine of their last ten in all competitions on home soil. So, even though they’re likely to concede a few, Rubi’s men cannot be dismissed from an attacking point of view.

The fact that 91% of Rojiblancos’ matches at El Molinón also bodes very well ahead of this fixture. A combination of some decent attacking play, an overall open playing style and a leaky back-line, is the perfect recipe for high-scoring matches and, as their record shows, low-scoring fixtures are becoming a real rarity at El Molinón.

Quite frankly, a strong Celta Vigo side should be more than capable of creating multiple opportunities against this weak defence, and they’re expected to score a couple of goals. Having said this, the hosts continue to showcase their attacking credentials on their own patch and certainly can’t be ruled out. All in all, a high-scoring encounter looks on the cards.

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