Thursday's La Liga predictions including Celta Vigo vs. Atletico Madrid

Espanyol vs. Villarreal (Thursday, 6.00pm)

Espanyol and Villarreal will both be looking to bounce back from heavy defeats when they face off at the RCDE Stadium on Thursday.

The hosts are sitting in 13th spot in La Liga with seven points to their name, while the visitors are four points better off in sixth position.

We say: Espanyol 1-2 Villarreal

Villarreal may possess some defensive vulnerabilities, but they also possess a real threat in the final third, and we think that their firepower could help them bounce back from Sunday's defeat by claiming a narrow win over Espanyol on Thursday.

Las Palmas vs. Betis (Thursday, 6.00pm)

Real Betis will look to bounce back from a narrow defeat to Mallorca when they travel to Gran Canaria for Thursday's La Liga clash with Las Palmas.

Los Verdiblancos are sitting in 11th spot with eight points to their name, while Las Palmas are propping up the standings after mustering two points from their six matches.

We say: Las Palmas 1-1 Real Betis

Las Palmas may be winless in 20 La Liga matches, but they have drawn two of their three home matches this season, and we think that they may frustrate Betis to take a point off Los Verdiblancos for the second time this year after playing out a 2-2 draw in May's home fixture.

Celta Vigo vs. Atletico (Thursday, 8.00pm)

Atletico Madrid will look to extend their unbeaten start to the season when they travel to Balaidos for Thursday's meeting with Celta Vigo.

Atleti enter matchday seven in fourth spot in the standings, while the visitors are three points away in ninth position.

We say: Celta Vigo 1-2 Atletico Madrid

Celta may be unbeaten in nine consecutive home matches, but they do tend to struggle in meetings with Atletico, and we think the visitors will ultimately have the extra quality required to edge out their hosts and clinch a seventh successive head-to-head victory.