Fresh from booking their spot in the quarter-finals of the Europa League, Villarreal will continue their La Liga campaign at home to Cadiz on Sunday.
The Yellow Submarine are currently seventh in Spain's top flight, two points behind sixth-placed Real Betis, while Cadiz occupy 14th position in the table.
Match preview
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Villarreal, as mentioned, booked their spot in the last eight of the Europa League on Thursday evening as a 2-0 win over Dynamo Kiev in the second leg of their last-16 tie saw them secure a 4-0 aggregate success.
The Yellow Submarine have been impressive in Europe, but a disappointing run of form in the league has seen them drop from fifth into seventh position, leaving them facing the possibility of missing out on European football next term, unless they were to win the Europa League.
Between January 20 and March 5, Villarreal did not win a single game in the league, but they managed to put three points on the board last weekend courtesy of a 3-1 success away to a struggling Eibar outfit.
Unai Emery's side will now be looking to make it three straight wins in all competitions, and they are only five points behind fifth-placed Real Sociedad in the table with a lot of football still to play this season.
Villarreal have proved difficult to beat on home soil this term, losing just two of their 13 La Liga matches, but they have drawn six times, and Cadiz have been relatively strong on their travels, picking up 16 points from 13 matches.
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Cadiz will enter this weekend's contest off the back of a 1-1 draw with Alaves on March 13, which made it five points from their last four matches.
A disappointing start to 2021 had seen Alvaro Cervera's side start to drop towards the relegation zone, but they are currently 14th in the table, six points clear of the bottom three during a vital stage of the campaign.
Cadiz are bidding to make it back-to-back seasons at this level of football for the first time since 1991-92 and 1992-93, and the promoted side have shown enough to suggest that they are capable of competing in Spain's top flight on a regular basis.
Los Piratas have also recorded some standout results in the league this term, beating both Real Madrid and Barcelona, while they impressed in a 1-1 draw with Ronald Koeman's side in the reverse game last month.
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Team News
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Villarreal will be unable to call upon Etienne Capoue on Sunday, with the midfielder receiving a straight red card in the latter stages of last weekend's 3-1 success at Elche.
The Yellow Submarine will also be without Geronimo Rulli, Pau Torres, Vicente Iborra and Francis Coquelin through injury, but Raul Albiol is back after serving a one-game ban and should return to the side.
Gerard Moreno is again expected to be joined in the final third by Carlos Bacca, while Capoue's absence could see Moi Gomez move into a central position. Emery might also make an alteration at right-back, with Mario Gaspar potentially replacing Juan Foyth in the starting side.
As for Cadiz, Marcos Mauro, Isaac Carcelen, Anthony Lozano, Carlos Akapo and Luismi Quezada will all be unavailable for selection through injury.
Mauro's absence at the heart of the defence could see Jose Mari drop from midfield into the back four, allowing Jon Garrido to come into the starting XI.
Salvi is pushing for a spot in the side, but Cervera is unlikely to shuffle his pack on Sunday, with Alvaro Negredo, Alberto Perea and Ruben Sobrino all expected to retain their positions in the team.
Villarreal possible starting lineup:
Asenjo; Gaspar, Albiol, Funes Mori, Pedraza; Trigueros, Parejo, M Gomez, Chukwueze; Bacca, Moreno
Cadiz possible starting lineup:
Ledesma; Fali, Mari, Cala, Espino; Sobrino, Alex, Jonsson, Garrido, Perea; Negredo
We say: Villarreal 2-0 Cadiz
Villarreal will have been boosted by their progression to the quarter-finals of the Europa League, and we are expecting the Yellow Submarine to secure another win this weekend, strengthening their hopes of a top-six finish in the process. Cadiz have impressed on their return to this level, but the visitors are again expected to be missing some important players on Sunday afternoon.
Top tip
Matt Law
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 60.89%. A draw had a probability of 23.4% and a win for Cadiz had a probability of 15.74%.
The most likely scoreline for a Villarreal win was 1-0 with a probability of 14.65%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (12.63%) and 2-1 (9.36%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.86%), while for a Cadiz win it was 0-1 (6.31%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with a 9.4% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Villarreal would win this match.
