Valencia vs Villarreal Preview & Prediction | 2024-25 Spanish Primera
Click here for today’s sports betting tips from our expert analysts!
We have something of a derby encounter on Saturday in La Liga as a flailing and badly struggling Valencia side welcome local neighbours and in-form Villarreal to Mestalla for what is an extremely intriguing encounter this weekend.
KICK-OFF DATE/TIME: Saturday 31st August, 2024 - UK – 8:30pm / US ET – 3:30pm / US PT – 12:30pm
HOW TO WATCH ON TV: UK – Premier Sports / US – ESPN have the exclusive rights to La Liga games in the USA, so Valencia vs Villarreal may be televised on one of their affiliated channels
HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: UK – Premier Sports / US – ESPN+
VALENCIA PREVIEW: REASONS TO BE WORRIED
The last few years of the Peter Lim ownership of Valencia have been troublesome and controversial. They narrowly avoided the drop on the final day of the 2022/23 campaign with then interim coach Ruben Baraja being rewarded with the job on a full-time basis but the former Valencia man exceeded expectations with a top-half finish last year.
This time around, though, after another difficult summer transfer window, Valencia have endured a very difficult start to the campaign with three defeats from three matches. They were beaten 2-1 by Barcelona on the opening weekend of the season before then losing to both Athletic Club and Celta Vigo in the north within the last week.
VILLARREAL PREVIEW: MARCELINO HEADING BACK
Former Valencia boss Marcelino will take Villarreal back to Mestalla this weekend and show Valencia supporters exactly what they’ll miss about the coach that got them up to fourth in La Liga with a Copa del Rey win in the process because it has been a brilliant start to the campaign for the Yellow Submarine.
Their games have had plenty of drama with Villarreal beginning with a 2-2 draw against Atletico Madrid in which all four goals came before half-time before they then went and defeated Sevilla with a second-half stoppage-time winner from Ayoze Perez before a remarkably entertaining 4-3 win against Celta last week which also included a late, late winner.
VALENCIA TEAM NEWS: DEFENSIVE ISSUES
PREDICTED XI (4-4-2): Mamardashvili; Foulquier, Cesar Tarrega, Cristhian Mosquera, Jesus Vazquez; Diego Lopez, Pepelu, Hugo Guillamon, Luis Rioja; Hugo Duro, Rafa Mir
UNAVAILABLE: Jaume Domenech (Injured), Diakhaby (Injured), Jose Luis Gaya (Injured), Sergi Canos (Injured)
QUESTIONABLE:
VILLARREAL TEAM NEWS: NO NEW ISSUES
PREDICTED XI (4-4-2): Conde; Kiko Femenia, Raul Albiol, Bailly, Sergi Cardona; Yeremy Pino, Santi Comesana, Dani Parejo, Alex Baena; Gerard Moreno, Danjuma
UNAVAILABLE: Foyth (Injured), Alfonso Pedraza (Injured), Denis Suarez (Injured)
QUESTIONABLE:
VALENCIA VS VILLARREAL PREDICTION
In what is a derby encounter, we could have a fiery and entertaining affair at Mestalla as Valencia welcome Villarreal to their fortress that has fallen. Valencia are still a bit of a mess in a lot of departments and they do look set for another struggle against the drop this season. Villarreal are on seven points from nine but will probably view themselves as a little fortunate to be in that position. Both teams scoring looks a good bet for this one.
VALENCIA VS VILLARREAL TIP: BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE
