Overview
After helping Real Sociedad win the Copa del Rey last season, Pellegrino Matarazzo is aiming to improve his 10th place in La Liga in his first full season at Reale Arena.
Real Sociedad started the season with two consecutive away defeats against Real Betis and Real Madrid. However, the Basque team regained joy in their first home match when they defeated Espanyol 2-1.
Mikel Oyarzabal played an important role in this victory with two assists for Ander Barrenetxea and Orri Oskarsson to score. This result helped Real Sociedad extend their unbeaten streak against Espanyol to 8 matches, including 6 wins and 2 draws.
Home record is also a fulcrum for Real Sociedad to aim for the next match. In the last 12 La Liga matches at Reale Arena under Matarazzo, they won 6, drew 4 and only suffered 2 defeats.
Celta Vigo is one of Real Sociedad's most recent victims. In the meeting in January, Oyarzabal scored a double to help the home team win 3-1.
Meanwhile, Celta Vigo is experiencing a difficult start after winning a ticket to European cups for the second consecutive season. Claudio Giraldez's team drew 0-0 with Valencia in the opening match before suffering two consecutive defeats.
Marcos Alonso's red card caused Celta Vigo to lose the advantage in the 1-2 defeat to Osasuna at home in round 2. By the end of last week, they continued to lose 0-2 to Athletic Bilbao, thereby falling to 16th place in the La Liga standings.
Celta's home form is also a worrying issue. Since the beginning of last season, they have only won 6 out of 21 La Liga matches at Balaidos, along with 5 draws and 10 defeats. After the first three rounds of this season, Celta is still in the group of 6 teams that have not known victory.
The away trip to Donostia will be of great significance to Giraldez's team. However, head-to-head history does not favor Celta Vigo as they have only won one of their last six away games against Real Sociedad.
Attacking ability is also a problem to be solved. Celta has only scored one goal after 3 matches and only has 7 shots on target. This is quite low statistic when only 2 teams in La Liga have fewer shots on target after three rounds.
Personnel situation
Real Sociedad continues to be short of Alvaro Odriozola due to a long-term injury, while Pablo Marin is also likely unable to participate due to a hamstring problem.
Yangel Herrera and Take Kubo could be used by Pellegrino Matarazzo if Real Sociedad coach wants to adjust the squad before the dense schedule at the beginning of the season.
On the Celta Vigo side, striker Borja Iglesias is still in the process of recovering from a muscle injury that caused him to miss the last 2 matches.
Marcos Alonso will return to the defense after completing a one-match suspension. Meanwhile, new signing Couhaib Driouech is likely to start the match on the bench after moving from PSV Eindhoven.
Expected lineup:
Real Sociedad: Remiro, Aramburu, Zubeldia, Martin, Gomez, Kubo, Herrera, Turrientes, Barrenetxea, Oyarzabal, Oskarrson.
Celta Vigo: Radu, Lago, Starfelt, Alonso, Rueda, Roman, Febas, Galan, Aspas, Alvarez, Duran.
The match between Real Sociedad and Celta Vigo takes place at 2:00 AM on September 4th (Vietnam time).
