Real Sociedad will travel to Castellon this weekend for their blockbuster La Liga clash with Villarreal at the Estadio de la Ceramica.
With both sides still in the race for a Champions League spot this season, this encounter could go a long way in deciding who will be competing against Europe's top outfits next term.
Match preview
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Villarreal, who have only lost two games so far this season, could potentially leapfrog Sevilla into fourth place if they beat La Real and Sevilla are defeated by Eibar.
On paper, Unai Emery's side are very much the favourites coming into this tie, with the team picking up eight points from their last four league outings.
The Estadio de la Ceramica has become something of a fortress for the Yellow Submarine. Not only have Emery's men not been defeated on home soil this season, but they have also collected 20 points at home.
Villarreal's good defensive record this season has been largely fuelled by the work of centre-back pairing Raul Albiol and Pau Torres. Thanks to their exploits, the Yellow Submarine have only conceded 19 goals.
Emery's Villarreal side has drawn criticism from pundits, though, with the team occasionally looking toothless in attack at times.
Against league-strugglers Huesca last time out, a game that initially looked like an easy three points, Villarreal failed to find a way past Pacheta's men, with the tie ending 0-0.
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If it was not for the fact that Real Sociedad are still currently sixth in the table, it could be argued that La Real's season had taken a turn for the worse.
Imanol Alguacil's side, who were being touted as potential champions earlier in the campaign, have won just one of their last 10 league fixtures.
Yet, thanks to their strong start to the campaign, La Real could still achieve big things if they are able to overcome their dip in form.
Considering his side have the fourth-best away form in the league, Alguacil will be quietly confident going into this tie. La Real have won 17 points on the road so far and will be looking to make it an even 20 on Saturday.
In order to come away from this clash with all three points, Alguacil will need starlet Mikel Oyarzabal to bring his A-game. The 23-year-old attacker currently has eight La Liga goals to his name, more than any other La Real player.
Villarreal La Liga form: DLWWDD
Villarreal form (all competitions): WWWDDW
Real Sociedad La Liga form: LLWDLD
Real Sociedad form (all competitions): DLLWDL
Team News
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Emery will be without a host of players going into this tie, with the injuries beginning to pile up for Villarreal.
Jaume Costa, Juan Foyth, Samuel Chukwueze, Gerard Moreno, Mario Gaspar, Vicente Iborra and Alberto Moreno are all unavailable for this tie.
Alguacil will also have absentees coming into this tie, with the most notable being David Silva, who has missed a lot of this campaign through injury.
Jon Pacheco and Luca Sangalli will also miss this game due to injury.
Villarreal possible starting lineup:
Asenjo; Funes, Albiol, Torres; Pena, Capoue, Parejo, Alfonso; Trigueros, Gomez, Alcacer
Real Sociedad possible starting lineup:
Alex Remiro; Gorosabel, Zubeldia, Le Normand, Monreal; Guridi, Guevara, Merino; Portu, Isak, Oyarzabal
We say: Villarreal 1-1 Real Sociedad
Do not let Villarreal's defensive resilience decieve you, the reason why these two sides are neck and neck at this stage of the campaign is because they both lack quality in the final third. We do not think anything will be able to separate the two teams at full time.
Top betting tip
Francis Buchanan
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Villarreal win with a probability of 38.32%. A win for Real Sociedad had a probability of 34.46% and a draw had a probability of 27.2%.
The most likely scoreline for a Villarreal win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.84%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.2%) and 2-0 (6.89%). The likeliest Real Sociedad win was 0-1 (10.15%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.9%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with a 12.9% likelihood.
