Villarreal vs Almeria Predictions & Match Preview

Villarreal vs Almeria predictions and match preview for Sunday’s LaLiga fixture. Read on for analysis, team news and predicted lineups as the visitors aim to continue their recent revival.

Villarreal vs Almeria Preview

Almeria travel to Valencia this weekend to take on Villarreal. These sides endured contrasting fortunes in midweek with the Yellow Submarine convincingly beaten at Camp Nou while Almeria picked up an important win on home soil.

Villarreal are missing a few important players right now. Gerard Moreno’s absence is obviously significant in the final third but it was arguably Etienne Capoue who has been the bigger miss in midweek as they struggled to compete against a technical Barcelona midfield. 3-0 down at the break, Unai Emery would have known the game was effectively up and he’ll be hoping for a positive response here in what is Villarreal’s third game in seven days.

They were pretty impressive on Monday in defeating Osasuna and they have so far done well at their adopted home in Valencia with 7 points collected from 3 league outings there. The fact 70% of Villarreal’s games so far have been away also to some extent explains why they are outside the European places. However Emery’s critics would also point to a repeat of some of their problems from previous seasons where they struggle to kill games off against weaker teams.

Almeria aren’t really the kind of side that is defending well enough to come here, park the bus, and play for a point. They are giving up far too many chances still and despite taking 6 points from their last 3 games, they’ve still conceded 6 goals in that period.

It’s a results business though and wins in their last 2 home outings look to have strengthened Rubi’s position which was just starting to come under threat. In both cases they raced into 3-0 leads against Rayo Vallecano and in midweek against Girona. However they did nearly throw it all away against the Catalans with Michel’s side scoring twice after the break as they clawed their way back into the game.

Team News & Possible Lineups

Villarreal

Possible XI: Rulli – Mojica, Torres, Albiol, Femenia – Lo Celso, Trigueros, Parejo, Pino – Morales, Danjuma (4-4-2)

Coach: Unai Emery

Almeria

Possible XI: Fernando – Akieme, Babic, Ely, Mendes – Melero, De La Hoz, Robertone – Embarba, Toure, Baptistao (4-3-3)

Coach: Rubi

Score Prediction: Villarreal 3-1 Almeria

This one should go the way of the hosts. Villarreal were impressive on Monday in their last home game and with Dani Parejo pulling the strings, they ought to open up this unconvincing Almeria defence regularly enough to win this one with a bit of breathing space.

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