The race for the Spanish title is beginning to heat up and on Sunday the 25th of April we have a meeting between Villarreal and Barcelona at the Estadio de la Cerámica.
The hosts begin the weekend in 7th place on 49 points and the visitors are in 3rd place on 68 points, 5 points behind leaders Atletico Madrid, with a game in hand.
G⚽️AL OF THE DAY😱 @ivanrakitic pic.twitter.com/vkyCR12o7x— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) April 23, 2021
G⚽️AL OF THE DAY😱 @ivanrakitic pic.twitter.com/vkyCR12o7x
Villarreal come into the match having suffered a 2-1 defeat at Deportivo Alaves in mid-week.
It was a disappointing result against a team fighting against relegation and means Villarreal have won one of their 3 most recent games in La Liga. There was a 2-1 loss at home against Osasuna prior to a good 5-1 victory at home against Levante.
Villarreal have really been struggling at home in recent La Liga games. They have picked up just a single victory from their last 6 home league fixtures and recorded only two wins from their 10 La Liga matches at the Estadio de la Cerámica.
Trends show Villarreal have lost 3 of their last 4 home league games, with defeats coming against Real Betis, Atletico Madrid, and Osasuna.
Villarreal have scored at least one goal in each of their last 11 games in all competitions but have conceded at least one goal in each of their last 8 home La Liga matches.
Barcelona come into the game having recorded a 5-2 win over Getafe at home on Thursday night. That was a second successive comprehensive victory for Barcelona following their 2-1 defeat at the hands of bitter rivals Real Madrid.
In addition to the 5-2 win over Getafe, Barcelona defeated Athletic Club 4-0 in the Copa Del Rey final.
League form shows Barcelona have been producing the goods of late and they have won 7 of their last 8 La Liga games.
In fact, Barcelona have tasted just a single defeat in their 21 most recent La Liga fixtures, which is a great record. When playing away from home, Barcelona have recorded 9 wins from their last 10 league matches.
Trends show Barcelona have scored at least one goal in their last 23 league games, including each of their last 11 on the road. Barcelona have scored 2 or more goals in 7 of their last 8 away La Liga matches.
Looking ahead to the team news and Villarreal are without the injured Pervis Estupiñán, who has a muscle problem. He is expected to be the only player unavailable for the hosts. Barcelona travel without the injured trio of Neto, Philippe Coutinho, and Ansu Fati.
Every game is now a must win for Barcelona if they are going to win the title this season.
Villarreal have the distraction of a Europa League semi-final against Arsenal and Barcelona must begin this game as the favourites to win.
We expected to see over 3.5 goals and both teams scoring as the visitors take maximum points.