Unai Emery has enjoyed a mixed start to life as Villarreal head coach. Despite the unconvincing start in La Liga, the Yellow Submarine are still in a decent position to mount a European challenge this season.
On Saturday evening, Emery’s team head to struggling Elche, in the sort of game that the visitors need to start winning if they are to nab a top-four spot this season in La Liga.
Focused on our next @LaLigaEN game!👉 Saturday 6th February, 6:30pm CET, @Elchecf_en 🆚 #Villarreal (Estadio Martínez Valero). pic.twitter.com/YLxsDkPKR0— Villarreal CF English (@Eng_Villarreal) February 4, 2021
Focused on our next @LaLigaEN game!👉 Saturday 6th February, 6:30pm CET, @Elchecf_en 🆚 #Villarreal (Estadio Martínez Valero). pic.twitter.com/YLxsDkPKR0
Elche look like the perfect opponents for Villarreal, as they are 19th place in the Spanish top-flight table and have failed to win in 14 league matches heading into the weekend clash. A 1-0 defeat at Valencia last time out means that Jorge Almiron’s outfit has also lost four of their last five league games.
Despite their woeful recent form, Elche are still only two points from safety, while having two games in hand on all the teams directly around them at the wrong end of the table.
The home side needs to find a way to score more goals though, as no team in La Liga have scored fewer goals then Almiron’s team this season.
A recent run of three straight draws in La Liga has led to Villarreal falling four points behind fourth-place Sevilla in the race for Champions League spots. The Andalusians also have a game in hand on the visitors.
The run of draws means that Villarreal are unbeaten in five La Liga matches, but have won just three of their last 12 matches in the Spanish top-flight.
Villarreal have been hard to beat on their travels of late in La Liga, as they have lost just one of their last nine matches away from home. However, five of those nine games have finished in draws.
Forebet predicts that Villarreal will help their bid for a top-four finish by recording a win in a low-scoring clash, while also hindering Elche’s chances of escaping the drop this season