Villarreal vs Leganes Preview

This first leg score line of this encounter makes it an interesting one.

Villarreal head into this game as favourites thanks to home advantage but their 1-0 loss in the first leg shows that Leganes should not be written off easily.

Their chance of winning this game is further shortened by the sale of their star striker Cedric Bakambu last week and although they got some good cash from that deal they are yet to find a suitable replacement for the Congolese hit man.

Enes Unal should have been their next reliable attacker but the £13 million spent to sign him from Manchester City last summer hasn’t looked like a good investment and he has been shipped out on loan which leaves Carlos Bacca as the only option to start upfront for them in this game.

They have scored only 3 goals in their last 6 competitive games and may become the next victim of Leganes parking the bus to secure the aggregate win.

Nordin Amrabat’s 49^th minute goal in this first leg means Leganes head into this match with a 1-0 lead.

Known for their defensive resilience, Leganes will be looking to secure that win at the very least when they visit the Yellow submarines in this game.

All season they have defended very well and the result is 0.82 goals conceded on average which is the third best defensive record in the league, bettered only by Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.

There have been under 1.5 goals scored in 6 of Leganes last 7 games.

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

Villarreal

LAST FIVE GAMES						DATE	COMPETITION
L	Leganes		1-0		Villarreal	4 Jan, 2018	Spanish Copa del Rey
W	Valencia		0-1		Villarreal	23 Dec, 2017	Spanish Primera División
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

Leganes

LAST FIVE GAMES						DATE	COMPETITION
W	Leganes		1-0		Villarreal	4 Jan, 2018	Spanish Copa del Rey
D	Levante		0-0		Leganes	19 Dec, 2017	Spanish Primera División
L	Deportivo La Coruña		1-0		Leganes	9 Dec, 2017	Spanish Primera División
W	Leganes		3-1		Villarreal	3 Dec, 2017	Spanish Primera División
W	Leganes		1-0		Real Valladolid	28 Nov, 2017	Spanish Copa del Rey

H2H

DATE	COMPETITION
Leganes		1-0		Villarreal	4 Jan, 2018	Spanish Copa del Rey
Leganes		3-1		Villarreal	3 Dec, 2017	Spanish Primera División
Villarreal		2-1		Leganes	22 Apr, 2017	Spanish Primera División
Leganes		0-0		Villarreal	3 Dec, 2016	Spanish Primera División