Sevilla were held to a 1-1 draw away at Osasuna in last weekend’s La Liga action but this result extended the host’s unbeaten run to 11 matches in all competitions and although they’re also in action on Thursday night in the Europa League, this should pose few problems for Sunday’s hosts against Villarreal.
The home side have won Group A in the Europa League at a canter, having won all 5 of their group matches to date and sit top of the group with an 8-point lead over 2nd placed APOEL, so they may well rest a few key players during the week.
This may not bode well for Villarreal who will be coming up against this solid Sevilla outfit who are unbeaten in their last 8 matches overall in La Liga as well as winning 4 of their last 5 matches at home in the Spanish top flight.
Recent victories over 4th placed Real Sociedad, Levante, 5th placed Getafe and lowly Leganes have helped lift Sevilla up into 3rd spot in La Liga and depending upon other results, a win on Sunday could see the hosts draw level on points with both of the top two teams, Barcelona and Real Madrid (assuming they both lose that is).
Onto Villarreal, and the visitors currently occupy 13th place on the La Liga ladder and they’ve virtually remained in limbo in the past few weeks as they’ve endured a miserable sequence of results on the domestic front which has seen them winless from their last 6 matches.
This alarming slump in form has seen Villarreal lose 4 of these last 6 matches with defeats incurred against Eibar, Mallorca, Celta Vigo and Valencia.
The worrying aspect for Villarreal is that (with the exception of 8th placed Valencia), the other three defeats were against teams that are languishing in the lower reaches of the Spanish top flight.
This certainly doesn’t bode well for Villarreal who will be up against an in-form and confident Sevilla outfit this Sunday, while 7 defeats from their last 10 matches in La Liga on the road also doesn’t make life easy for Villarreal who have also conceded 2 goals or more in 8 of these last 10 away matches.
All roads therefore seem to point towards a home win here for Sevilla who will be keen to consolidate their top four spot.