Top-four hopefuls Villarreal and Nigerian winger, Samuel Chukwueze will be bidding to make it successive victories in Spain’s top flight when they continue their campaign at home to Celta Vigo on Sunday afternoon.
The Yellow Submarine are fifth in the table, five points behind fourth-placed Real Sociedad, while Celta occupy 13th position, eight points clear of the relegation zone heading into the next set of fixtures.
Villarreal are very much in the argument for a top-four finish at this stage of the season, with Quique Setien’s side currently fifth in the table, five points behind fourth-placed Real Sociedad.
Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid appear to have cemented their spots in the Champions League positions, but Real Sociedad are far from comfortable in fourth, and Villarreal will be aiming to close the gap when they welcome Celta to Estadio de la Ceramica.
The Yellow Submarine were 4-2 winners over Espanyol on Thursday evening, with Etienne Capoue registering twice, and Dani Parejo and Nicolas Jackson also getting their names on the scoresheet.
Villarreal have finished seventh in their last two La Liga campaigns and have not claimed fourth since 2015-16, so it could be a very successful campaign for the club.
El Submarino Amarillo have been strong in front of their own fans this season, picking up 29 points from 15 matches, which is the fifth-best home record in the division, but Celta have claimed a respectable 16 points on their travels, and the Sky Blues certainly have the talent to make this a very difficult match.
Celta have only lost one of their last four La Liga games against Villarreal, meanwhile, and the points were shared when the two teams locked horns in Vigo towards the start of January.
Carlos Carvalhal’s side have no real relegation fears at this stage of the season, sitting 13th in the table, eight points clear of the bottom three, while they are just two points behind 10th-placed Girona.
A top-half finish should be the aim for Celta in the closing weeks of the campaign, which is something that they have achieved on only one occasion since 2016.
The Sky Blues will enter this match off the back of a 1-0 victory over Elche on Wednesday evening, with Joseph Aidoo coming up with a 90th-minute winner against the team at the bottom of the division.
The success was Celta’s first since the middle of March and eased any slight fears that they could be dragged closer to the relegation zone entering the latter stages of the campaign.
