Valencia vs Villarreal Preview

This is another derby in the Spanish La Liga this weekend albeit a lesser derby compared to the El Classico.

Valencia may be doing well this season but their city rivals Villarreal have been the most prosperous of them recently.

Valencia seem to have come back to their best with the appointment of Marcelino who walked out on Villarreal last season.

Marcelino’s team have been one of the most transformed teams this season but they have suffered a recent blip in form.

Those setbacks came away from home and they will be back to their confident best in this game at home.

Valencia have won 75% of their home games this season scoring an average of 2.5 goals per game, conceding just 0.5 goals and winning at least 2.5 points per game.

Villarreal meanwhile do not have the most attractive away record as they have lost 44% of their road games this season, conceding an average of 1.56 goals while scoring just 1 goal on average.

They have struggled against the top clubs this season losing to Sevilla and Barcelona at home and they have failed to beat any top six side which makes it look like Valencia has the upper hand at least on paper.

Villarreal are unbeaten in their last three visits to the Mestalla and have won three of the last four meetings againt Valencia.

Results of each team’s last 5 matches across all leagues and competitions

Valencia

LAST FIVE GAMES						DATE	COMPETITION
L	Eibar		2-1		Valencia	16 Dec, 2017	Spanish Primera División
W	Valencia		2-1		Celta Vigo	9 Dec, 2017	Spanish Primera División
L	Getafe		1-0		Valencia	3 Dec, 2017	Spanish Primera División
W	Valencia		4-1		Real Zaragoza	30 Nov, 2017	Spanish Copa del Rey
D	Valencia		1-1		Barcelona	26 Nov, 2017	Spanish Primera División

Villarreal

LAST FIVE GAMES						DATE	COMPETITION
W	Celta Vigo		0-1		Villarreal	17 Dec, 2017	Spanish Primera División
L	Villarreal		0-2		Barcelona	10 Dec, 2017	Spanish Primera División
L	Villarreal		0-1		Maccabi Tel-Aviv	7 Dec, 2017	Europa League
L	Leganes		3-1		Villarreal	3 Dec, 2017	Spanish Primera División
W	Villarreal		3-0		Ponferradina	30 Nov, 2017	Spanish Copa del Rey

H2H

LAST FIVE GAMES					DATE	COMPETITION
Valencia		1-3		Villarreal	21 May, 2017	Spanish Primera División
Villarreal		0-2		Valencia	21 Jan, 2017	Spanish Primera División
Valencia		0-2		Villarreal	1 May, 2016	Spanish Primera División
Villarreal		1-0		Valencia	31 Dec, 2015	Spanish Primera División
Valencia		0-0		Villarreal	5 Apr, 2015	Spanish Primera División

Other fixtures taking place this week in the Spanish Primera:

Spanish Primera Table

Spanish Primera Results