Unai Emery's high-flying Villarreal side will travel to Aragon ahead of their weekend La Liga clash with Huesca at the Estadio El Alcoraz.
Villarreal, who are currently fourth in the league, will expect to come away from this encounter with all three points, with hosts Huesca currently languishing at the foot of the table.
Match preview
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Emery's men were unlucky not to beat Granada in the league earlier this week, after veteran striker Paco Alcacer saw his stoppage-time penalty saved by Granada keeper Rui Silva.
The enthralling matchup ended 2-2, with the Yellow Submarine picking up just a single point as their quest to secure Champions League football rumbles on.
The disappointment of that tie aside, Villarreal have been playing some really impressive football this season, exemplified by the fact that they have not yet been bested at El Madrigal.
However, Villarreal's away form has been more of a point of concern for Emery, with the team only picking up 13 points on their travels so far this season.
Fortunately for Emery, his side boasts one of the best defensive records in the league, having only lost two games all season. It would take a lot for Huesca to find a way past the stolid defensive partnership of Pau Torres and Raul Albiol.
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A change of manager has not, as of yet, prompted a change in fortunes for Huesca, with new boss Pacheta unable to find that all-important league win against Getafe last time out.
Only time will tell if the former Elche coach was the correct choice and Pacheta certainly has a lot of work to do if he will succeed in escaping the drop.
Huesca's last, and only, win came back in mid-December, when they beat Alaves 1-0 at El Alcoraz. Since then, the club have picked up just one point from a possible 18.
However, the strangest thing about Huesca's dismal campaign is the fact that the performances themselves have not actually been that bad.
On a number of occasions, the team has looked a lot better than relegation rivals such as Elche, Alaves, or Osasuna. On-loan winger Javi Ontiveros has been a particularly bright spark for the side, while striker Rafa Mir has also proven effective upfront at times.
Still, in La Liga, putting in good performances means little if you cannot get the goals to back them up and Huesca have scored the fewest goals in the division this season, netting just 14 so far.
Huesca La Liga form: LDLLLL
Huesca form (all competitions): DLLLLL
Villarreal La Liga form: WDLWWD
Villarreal form (all competitions): LWWWWD
Team News
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Following a string of injuries earlier on in the campaign, Villarreal look to be back at full strength coming into this tie, with injury-prone players such as Carlos Bacca and Francis Coquelin even returning to the side in recent weeks.
Emery is still without long-term absentees such as Vicente Iborra, Alberto Moreno and Mario Gaspar.
As for Huesca, Pacheta will be without Pablo Insua and Juan Carlos, who are out due to COVID-19.
Other absentees for this tie include Pedro Mosquera, Sandro Ramirez, Antonio Valera and Cheick Doukoure, who are all nursing injuries.
Huesca possible starting lineup:
Fernandez; Pulido, Siovas, Silva; Maffeo, Escriche, Rico, Seoane, Galan, Ontiveros; Mir
Villarreal possible starting lineup:
Asenjo; Foyth, Albiol, Torres, Alfonso; Trigueros, Coquelin, Parejo; Pena, Nino, Gomez
We say: Huesca 0-2 Villarreal
Villarreal will come into this tie determined to pick up the points they dropped at Granada last time out. As promising as Huesca have been this season, we think Pacheta's men will struggle against the might of this Villarreal side.
Top betting tip
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 59.89%. A draw had a probability of 23.8% and a win for Huesca had a probability of 16.33%.
The most likely scoreline for a Villarreal win was 0-1 with a probability of 14.69%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (12.43%) and 1-2 (9.35%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.04%), while for a Huesca win it was 1-0 (6.53%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with an 8.7% likelihood.
