La Liga: Valencia and Villarreal Fight In a Battle of Attrition

Valencia vs Villarreal

Valencia and Villarreal will open a new chapter of their derby rivalry as they go head-to-head once more at the Mestalla this weekend.

Both are coming off of tough losses in the last time out. So a win here not only will give them a sense of reprieve, but also some bragging rights as well.

In their first La Liga meeting this season last October, Villarreal came away with a victory on their home pitch.

And as of this writing, both are occupying different spots in the standings despite high expectations for them prior to this season.

Villarreal are fighting for an European qualification and they hold the solo seventh spot at the table with 37 points.

On the other hand, Valencia took a turn for the worse since they are seven notches below Villarreal with only 27 points.

So naturally, the SBOTOP betting odds would favour the Yellow Submarine to win in this contest, but can Los Che prove us otherwise?

Here in today’s preview, let us examine on how these two rivals match up this Friday night.

Talking Points

Will Valencia undergo a major overhaul?

With the way things have been going over at Valencia, it feels that big changes are about to be made sooner or later.

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La Liga

Los Che are already eliminated from an European qualification because of their current standing, and that effectively puts team manager Javi Gracia on the hot seat.

Good La Liga 2021 results have been hard to come by for Valencia since they’ve only won three in their last nine outings so far, and much of their problems stem from the fact that their main stars have yet to hit their stride.

Carlos Soler and Manu Vallejo have yet to re-open their accounts since early January, although they lead the team with 11 goals and five assists combined.

Uros Racic and Goncalo Guedes’ shining moments have only come few and far between for Los Che, and they have only found the back of the net twice combined this term.

Other than a potential coaching change, recent reports suggest that Valencia might welcome a new owner as well.

Malaysian prince Tunku Ismail Idris has expressed his interest in purchasing the club with the sole purpose of helping the team establish a winning culture.

The current ownership of Valencia has been widely criticised for their transactions last summer, which includes the selling of popular players Dani Parejo to Villarreal and Rodrigo to Leeds United.

Valencia fans have been clamoring for current owner Peter Lim to relinquish his rights soon, as the squad has yet to mount a significant challenge for the La Liga title since his arrival back in 2014.

Villarreal rely on their youth

The Yellow Submarine may have lost to Atletico Madrid, but Unai Emery is content with how his undermanned group brought the fight against the La Liga leaders.

Chances came in bunches for Villarreal given that they had 64-per cent possession. However, they simply couldn’t capitalise.

One standout performer for Villarreal in this game was Samuel Chukwueze as he was superb in his return to the starting XI.

Samuel Chukwueze got his first La Liga start since his recovery in Villarreal's loss to Atletico — Atletico Madrid’s Mario Hermoso in action with Villarreal’s Samuel Chukwueze

The 21-year-old winger created multiple chances for the team and he will be relied on to do so in the next few games.

Him, Pau Torres, Pervis Estupinan, and Juan Foyth are expected to soak in major minutes in this upcoming match as Villarreal continue to deal with their injuries.

History

Prior to Friday night, Los Che and the Yellow Submarine have played so far in 48 games.

Valencia have the slight advantage in the overall head-to-heads with 20 wins, while Villarreal are close with 18 wins along with 10 draws.

In their previous matchup, Villarreal outplayed Valencia despite being reduced to 10 men en route to a 2-1 victory, thanks to goals from Paco Alcacer and Dani Parejo while Goncalo Guedes scored one in the losing effort.

Betting Tip

	Valencia vs Villarreal	Villarreal Asian Handicap -0.25 @ 1.81
	March 06, 04:00 (GMT+8)

Surprisingly, the La Liga 2021 odds point to a tight derby contest between Valencia and Villarreal.

Villarreal are backed to win at 2.09, while Valencia aren’t far behind at 3.50 and a draw is priced at 3.30 in the 1×2 market.

Despite facing injury problems, Unai Emery should have enough tools at his disposal to pull out another derby win this weekend.

Valencia might spring an upset if they catch Villarreal on an off night offensively. However, it is not likely to happen since they are fragile on the defensive end.

The pressure is on for Los Che to emerge victorious since a defeat here will pull them closer to entering the dreaded relegation zone.