📏 Form Guide

Villarreal

LWDWDL ⚖

Villarreal will be hoping for a better result following the 3-0 La Liga loss in their previous game against Celta Vigo.

In that game, Villarreal had 39% possession and 4 shots on goal with 1 on target. On the other side, Celta Vigo had 21 shots on goal with 9 of them on target. Fer López (45'), Borja Iglesias (53') and Iago Aspas (87') scored for Celta Vigo.

It’s been a rare occasion in recent times that Villarreal have shown defensive steel. In fact, Villarreal have been scored against in 5 of their previous 6 clashes, leaking 8 goals in the process.

Looking at the pre-match facts, Villarreal:

• haven't lost in the league to Espanyol in their last 5 matches.
• are undefeated in their last 2 league matches at home.
• have not won at home in their last 4 league games. Their fans aren't happy.

Espanyol

LDWWWD

Previously, Espanyol drew 1-1 in the La Liga tie with Valencia.

In that match, Espanyol managed 33% possession and 8 shots at goal with 3 of them on target. The only player to score for Espanyol was Javi Puado (40'). Valencia had 16 attempts on goal with 7 of them on target. Javi Guerra (57') scored for Valencia.

A sequence of hard-working displays from the Espanyol defence has resulted in the number of goals they’ve conceded standing at 4 from their last 6 clashes combined. In that period of time, their own forwards have managed to score 10. Such a trend isn’t assured to be continued here, of course.

Going into this game, the form guide shows that Espanyol:

• haven't won against Villarreal when having played them away from home in the previous 2 league games.
• are undefeated in their last 3 away league matches.

↔️ Head to head

Looking over their past head to head clashes dating back to 19/01/2020 tells us that Villarreal have won 4 of them & Espanyol 1, with the tally of drawn results standing at 1.

A combined total of 19 goals were scored between the two sides during those clashes, with 13 of them for El Submarino Amarillo and 6 for Periquitos. This gives an average number of goals per game equal to 3.17.

The previous league match featuring the two was La Liga match day 7 on 26/09/2024 which finished with the scoreline of Espanyol 1-2 Villarreal.

That time, Espanyol had 56% possession and 10 shots on goal with 2 on target. The scorer was Jofre Carreras (45').

For their opponents, Villarreal got 15 attempts at goal with 4 of them on target. Ayoze Pérez (45', 63') was the scorer.

The referee was Alejandro Quintero González.

🗞️ Team News: Villarreal

In all likelihood, El Submarino Amarillo look set to line up in a 4-4-2 system for the game, utilising Luiz Junior, Kiko, Juan Foyth, Logan Costa, Sergi Cardona, Tajon Buchanan, Santi Comesana, Daniel Parejo, Yeremi Pino, Ayoze Perez and Thierno Barry.

📋 Team News: Espanyol

From a largely healthy group of players, there is just the lone fitness problem for the Espanyol manager Manolo González to contend with. José Gragera (Toe injury) won’t be in action.

From our viewpoint, Periquitos might play in a 4-2-3-1 formation, giving starts to Joan Garcia, Omar El Hilali, Marash Kumbulla, Leandro Cabrera, Carlos Romero, Pol Lozano, Urko Gonzalez, Antoniu Roca, Edu Exposito, Javier Puado and Roberto Fernandez.

🧠 Prediction

We feel that in this game, Villarreal will more than likely get amongst the goals when they face Espanyol, who will be up against it finding the net themselves.

We therefore think that it’s going to be a controlled 2-0 winning score for Villarreal when all’s said and done.

Andre Moura, 14:02 27/04/2025