The Estadio de la Cerámica provides the venue for Sunday afternoon’s La Liga clash between Villarreal and Valencia as the hosts look to consolidate their current top four position in the Spanish top flight with a win here.
Villarreal headed into the international break on the back of a solid point earned in a 0-0 draw away from home at Atletico Madrid and together with their previous 3-1 home win against Deportivo Alaves, Sunday’s hosts seem to have recovered from their heavy defeat on the road at Barcelona.
A 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Barcelona had threatened to undo Villarreal’s decent start to the new La Liga campaign but they’ve subsequently bounced back with four points from their last two matches in the Spanish top flight which will be a timely boost for this clash against Valencia.
Earlier in the season, Villarreal had picked up a point in a 1-1 draw at home with Huesca which was followed by a 2-1 home win over Eibar, while they’ve also won three of their last four matches at home overall.
Valencia headed into the international break with a disappointing 2-0 defeat at home to Real Betis as the visitors have produced a mixed start to their new La Liga campaign, winning just two of their opening five matches of this new term.
Indeed, overall results have seen Valencia pick up just four wins out of their last 13 matches overall in the Spanish top flight and three of these four have been achieved on home turf at their Estadio de Mestalla, while performances and results away from home have left a lot to be desired.
Valencia have managed to pick up just one win from their last 13 matches on their travels (which came in the shape of their recent 1-0 win at Real Sociedad), but nine defeats within this miserable sequence of results suggest that the visitors may well have their work cut out at Villarreal this Sunday.
Within this poor away period, Valencia have also failed to score in seven of these 13 away matches, so the signs aren’t promising for this upcoming trip to face a solid Villarreal outfit, especially as Villarreal handed Valencia a 2-0 defeat in their previous meeting at the Estadio de la Cerámica back in the end of June this year.
In short, Villarreal look the more likely to claim the three points here.