Match Preview – 12:00 Kick-Off at El Madrigal, Villarreal

Although Villarreal suffered a 1-0 defeat to Las Palmas in their last La Liga outing, the loss came off the back of a run of 4 straight wins for El Submarino Amarillo. In fact, Villarreal have won 5 of their last 6 games, their only defeat coming in a narrow 3-2 home loss to table-topping Real Madrid. Their recent upturn in fortunes came after a dismal start to 2017 where they won just once in 8 games across all competitions.

Eibar’s form has certainly been mixed lately and although they have lost just 1 from their last 4, 3 of those games ended in draws. If you stretch back a little further, you will see that Eibar have won just once in their last 6 La Liga games. That certainly isn’t ideal form coming into a difficult fixture at El Madrigal.

Eibar beat Villarreal in the reverse fixture at the end of October with last-gasp goals from Ramis and Pedro Leon cancelling out Bruno’s first half penalty to secure a 2-1 victory for Los Armeros.

Villarreal manager Fran Escribá will hope his side can close the gap on Atletico Madrid to 4 points by avenging that defeat and in the process keep alive their hopes of Champions League qualification.

Villarreal’s recent results:

Mar 17th 2017 Las Palmas 1:0 Villarreal - La Liga

Mar 12th 2017 Celta Vigo 0:1 Villarreal - La Liga

Mar 4th 2017 Villarreal 2:0 Espanyol - La Liga

Mar 1th 2017 Osasuna 1:4 Villarreal - La Liga

Eibar’s recent results:

Mar 18th 2017 Eibar 1:1 Espanyol - La Liga

Mar 13th 2017 Osasuna 1:1 Eibar - La Liga

Mar 4th 2017 Eibar 1:4 Real Madrid - La Liga

Feb 28th 2017 Real Sociedad 2:2 Eibar - La Liga

Odds

Villarreal 17/20

Eibar 7/2

Draw 5/2

(Odds taken from Unibet)

Villarreal v Eibar Predictions

Villarreal have lost just 3 of their 14 home games this season, while Eibar have won just 3 times on the road themselves, with 2 of those victories coming against 2 of the bottom 3 (Osasuna and Sporting Gijon). Villarreal’s games are usually low scoring affairs - Fran Escribá’s side are the lowest scorers in La Liga’s top 6, but they also have the best defensive record in the league. That all points to a narrow home win.

Unibet have odds of 5/6 for there to be under 2.5 goals in Saturday’s early kick-off and those are nice odds for a safe bet. Following along with that theme and with goals set to be at a premium, I really like the look of Bet365’s odds of 11/2 for Villarreal to win the game 1-0.

Our Tips

Under 2.5 goals 5/6 Unibet[/list] Villarreal to win 1-0 11/2 Bet365[/list]