Villarreal safely negotiated their way through their recent two-legged Europa League affair against Austrian side, Salzburg, as the Spanish hosts registered a comfortable 4-1 aggregate win over their counterparts to progress to the next round of the competition, so confidence will be high ahead of this important clash against Atletico Madrid on Sunday.
On the domestic front however, Villarreal have been treading water so to speak as the hosts are without a win from their last six matches, five of which have been draws and four of these five draws have been score-draws as well.
🔙 Nuestro 🇲🇽 está de vuelta 💪😊 @HHerreramex 🔴⚪ #AúpaAtleti pic.twitter.com/v0QZK2BtBP— Atlético de Madrid (@Atleti) February 25, 2021
🔙 Nuestro 🇲🇽 está de vuelta 💪😊 @HHerreramex 🔴⚪ #AúpaAtleti pic.twitter.com/v0QZK2BtBP
Nevertheless, Villarreal have managed to cling onto their top six spot in La Liga thanks to losing just two of their last 21 matches overall in the Spanish top flight, but the real concern is whether this upcoming fixture is likely to end in a stalemate.
12 of Villarreal’s last 21 matches overall have ended in draws while results at home so far this season at their Estadio de la Cerámica have also been dominated by the draw as Villarreal have won 5 drawn 6 and lost just 1.
Both teams have scored though in 10 of Villarreal’s 12 home matches.
Atletico Madrid suffered a second defeat on the trot in all competitions in midweek when they lost 1-0 at home in their 1st leg clash against Premier League side, Chelsea, and this followed last weekend’s disappointing 2-0 defeat at home to Levante in La Liga.
That’s now just one win from their last five matches overall in all competitions for Atletico Madrid so they’ll be desperate to set the record straight away at Villarreal this Sunday as they look to keep 2nd placed local rivals, Real Madrid, at arms length at the top of La Liga.
Atletico have racked up five wins from their last six outings away from home though so they stand a decent chance of returning to winning ways after picking up wins on the road at Real Sociedad, Deportivo Alaves, Eibar, Cadiz and Granada, while six of Atletico Madrid’s 11 away matches have also resulted in both teams hitting the back of the net too.
The visitors may find Villarreal a stubborn opponent here though as the hosts have been hard to beat on home turf, and as four of the previous seven meetings have seen both teams score, this looks a good option for this clash.