La Liga: Improving Girona Head to Castellon

Villarreal vs Girona

Fourth plays seventh at the Estadio dele Ceramica on Sunday when Villarreal host Girona in a clash of two in form sides.   

Marcelino’s Villarreal are in the Champions League places, and without a European campaign this season the Yellow Submarine can concentrate on domestic matters…and so far it’s going pretty well.   

Michel managed Girona to a historic third place last year and this season was bound to be difficult, with European responsibilities to balance with high expectations in the league. After a patchy start Girona have put together three wins on the bounce to lift themselves up to seventh place in the league table and that makes La Liga: Villarreal vs Girona a more intriguing proposition.  

Villarreal come into the game on the back of a 2-2 draw away to Osasuna while Girona slapped Espanyol 4-1 but, with a European date in midweek the visitors have had less time than their hosts to prepare for this match. 

 

Talking Points

Perez and Pepe out for Villarreal

The Yellow Submarine’s good run of results has belied a growing injury list which became a little worse last week as star striker Ayoze Perez and attacking midfielder Nicolas Pepe both suffered setbacks. Former Arsenal man Pepe has a muscle tear in his left leg and could be out for six weeks, while Perez’ position is a little more hopeful, his quad injury may clear up within two to three weeks.   

SBOTOP football fans will know full well that 31 year old striker Perez is in the chasing group for the Pichichi with seven goals from nine games, but Villarreal will have to face Girona without him, unless the club is being cute about his timescale for recovery.

Marcelino’s team has recorded seven wins, four draws and two defeats in La Liga and they are four points behind third placed Atletico Madrid and with a game in hand. They are full of goals; racking up 25 already this season and they have shown plenty of resilience when they have their backs to the wall. The Yellow Submarine’s Sunday lunch away to Osasuna started badly as Ante Budmir put the hosts two ahead within 20 minutes. But Villarreal roared back through winger Alex Baena on 67 minutes, his second goal of the campaign to go along with his six assists, and a dramatic 93^rd minute winner from substitute Gerard Moreno who is likely to make a start against Girona.

 

Will workload be too much for Girona?

A 1-0 defeat away to Sturm Graz in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday night was a bit of a let down after a strong run in the league; and too many of the Girona players looked off the pace in Austria, with plenty of possession but only one shot on target all night. It seems Girona may be struggling with the workload, losing four of their five Champions League games and they are at serious risk of elimination well before the knockout phase. With league wins over Leganes, Getafe, and Espanyol in recent weeks Michel will be keen to regain his team’s momentum but Villarreal is not the ideal opponent. And Girona have not been great on the road, picking up just eight points from seven games on their travels, as well as losing both their away games in the Champions League in November.

Michel is likely to bring back striker Yaser Asprilla and midfield ace Donny van de Beek, both rested for the visit to Sturm Graz while veteran forward, Cristhian Stuani will hope to add to his four goals fro ten games.  

 

History

With eight wins to five the Yellow Submarine have had the better of the Villarreal vs Girona results and they won the last meeting in Catalonia 1-0; though Girona had earlier won their away match at the Estadio de la Ceramica

Both teams come into this clash in pretty good form; the hosts have won three, drawn two and lost one of the last six games while their visitors have won four and lost two in all competitions.        

 

Betting Tip

Girona are priced at 3.54 to win, and that result would take them to within a point of their hosts, while the price to draw is 3.34 to draw with the Double Chance, Girona to win or draw is at SBOTOP odds of 2.00. 

The Villarreal vs Girona betting tips are naturally going to side with the hosts and I was torn between a Yellow Submarine victory and a game with plenty of goalmouth action.  Over 2.75 goals is available at odds of 1.87, but I’m backing the Yellow Submarine for three points.

   

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