Valencia vs Villarreal — Tips & Analysis

Valencia +0.5: Villarreal are a poor travelling team, and they arrive tired. They have won two and lost five of their nine away games, letting in almost 2 goals a game on the road. They were away at Anfield four days ago, and Valencia have had a full week to get ready. Valencia are a mess going forward. They sit 19th with one league win, and they score less than a goal a game at home. They did not score in four of their last five at Mestalla. What they do is keep games tight and dull. Valencia have lost by 2 or more goals only twice in their last 13 games, and four of those 13 ended level. Two of those recent home games finished 0-0. Villarreal score almost 2 goals a game, so they can hurt a poor defence, but they have won only 5 of their last 16. These two know each other well, and the last five meetings finished 1-2, 0-2, 1-1, 1-1 and 0-1. Valencia have won nine and tied four of the last 20 meetings. Another 1-1 is the likeliest score, and a tight game is all we are asking for. The warning is real. Villarreal's games are usually busy, with 12 of their last 16 producing three or more goals, and Valencia are without S. Canos, D. Lopez and U. Sadiq. We still like Valencia to dig something out here.