The 2020/21 UEFA Europa League has reached the Round of 16 stage. We have some great games to look forward to on Thursday the 11th of March including the meeting between Dynamo Kiev and Villarreal at the NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kiev.
Dynamo Kiev come into the match having defeated Minai 3-0 at home in the Ukraine Premier League on the weekend. They are currently top of the League on 40 points, 3 points clear of second place Shakhtar Donetsk.
That victory was their fourth straight win in all competitions and Dynamo Kiev are undefeated in their last 10 matches.
In terms of the Europa League, Dynamo Kiev defeated Club Brugge of Belgium in the Round of 32. Having been held to a 1-1 draw at home in the first leg, Dynamo Kiev delivered a good performance away from home to win the second leg 1-0 and progress in the competition.
Dynamo Kiev have a good record of 7 undefeated games from their last 8 encounters in the Europa League. However, they have won only 1 of their last 7 matches in the competition and have been held to a draw in each of their last 3 home Europa League fixtures.
Trends show under 2.5 goals have been scored in Dynamo Kiev's last 4 home matches in the Europa League.
Villarreal travel to Ukraine having lost 2-1 at Valencia in La Liga on the weekend. That was a second successive defeat in La Liga for Villarreal and they currently occupy 7th place in the table, 5 points adrift of the European qualifying places.
Villarreal have been struggling to win games of late, picking up just 2 victories from their 9 most recent matches.
However, Villarreal seem to enjoy playing in the Europa League and they are undefeated in their last 9 games in the competition. There have been 8 victories from those 9 matches, with 3 wins from their last 4 away Europa League fixtures.
In fact, Villarreal have lost only one of their last 10 away Europa League games, which is a great record.
Trends show there have been under 2.5 goals scored in Villarreal’s last 3 away Europa League matches. The Spanish club have managed to score at least one goal in 6 of their last 7 Europa League games on the road.
Looking ahead to the team news and Dynamo Kiev have a lot of injuries to contend with, including Denys Popov, Viktor Tsygankov, Tudor Baluta, Volodymyr Kostevych, Mykyta Burda, Benjamin Verbic, and Denys Harmash.
Villarreal will be without the injured trio of Francis Coquelin, Alberto Moreno, and Vicente Iborra. They also have doubts over Rubén Peña and Yeremi Pino.
Despite their injury problems, Dynamo Kiev should provide a good test for Villarreal. However, the Spanish club are proven to be difficult to beat in this competition and we expect to see them at least come away with a draw, in a game that could see under 2.5 goals.