Villarreal vs Valladolid Match Preview: Spanish Primera Liga

Valladolid travel to the Estadio El Madrigal this Saturday evening to play a Villarreal team who will be looking to make it 2 wins from 2 in the Spanish Primera.

Villarreal showed great spirit in their opening match against Almeria where they fought back from 2:1 down to win 3:2 with 2 goals in the last 7 minutes of the match.

Valladolid got off to the worst possible start losing 2:1 at home to Athletic Bilbao.

Recent form

Villarreal – W W W D L W L

Valladolid – L D W W L L L

Villarreal have lost 2 in 7 while Valladolid have lost 4 of their last 7 matches.

Head-to-head

These two sides have met 20 times in recent years and Valladolid have come out on top most often (Villarreal 7 wins, Valladolid 10 wins, 3 Draws)

The last 5 meetings between these two sides finished 2:0, 3:1, 0:1, 0:0 and 0:3.

Bookmakers side with Villarreal in this tie.

Current betting odds: Villarreal (17/20) Draw (5/2) Valladolid (16/5)

Gamingtips Prediction –  Villarreal 3:1 Valladolid 

Although it is still very early in the season, Villarreal are 6th,  Valladolid are 14th.

Villarreal were promoted from the Segunda division last season where they managed to score 68 goals in 42 matches and concede just 38.

Valladolid struggled in the Spanish Primera last season finishing 14th, just 7 points above the drop zone (scored 49 in 38 but conceded 58).

If Villarreal can maintain their strong defensive record from last season (conceded 38 goals in 42 matches) against stronger opposition, they should be able to hold their own in the Spanish Primera.

Valladolid conceded more goals than they scored last season and this doesn’t bode well for them considering that they spent very litte in the transfer window.

Villarreal spent over £10 million during the transfer window signing Giovani dos Santos and Tomas Pina from Mallorca.

This match will ultimately come down to which side defends best.  Villarreal have a very good defensive record from last season (conceded 38 in 42) and if they are able to maintain that, they should be able to overcome a Valladolid team who conceded 58 in 38 last season.

From a betting perspective, over 2.5 goals at odds of 21/20 offers value to punters considering that both sides can score goals and although Villarreal conceded less than 1 goal per game on average, they will face stiffer opposition this season than that of the Segunda division which generally has a lot less goals than the Primera division.

This match gets underway at 22:00 GMT+1.