Spartak Moscow vs Villarreal Predictions

Villarreal are one of three Spanish sides travelling to Russia this week and although they are favourites, they may just be in for the toughest match against Spartak Moscow. Neither side made a good start to this group so there’s plenty at stake and the losers would already be in pretty big trouble in terms of trying to make the knockout stage.

It has been a pretty poor start to the season overall for Villarreal. They have only picked up 8 points from their opening 7 league games. That’s not really good enough by their usual standards and already they have work to do if they are to get back into the battle for a top four finish, which would be their top aim this season, although realistically they’d probably settle for another 5th or 6th place finish. This competition offers them a chance to enjoy some success, but a 2-2 draw at home to Rangers represented a poor start to the group stage.

That adds pressure to this game and Spartak Moscow are in a similar position having lost 2-0 away to Rapid Vienna in their opening game. They’ve already suffered the disappointment of failing to make the Champions League group stage, with a 3-2 aggregate defeat to PAOK putting paid to their chances. Their league form has been unconvincing too with Spartak currently down in 5th in the Russian top flight.

The bookies make the visitors the slight favourites and that looks about right. Spartak’s only competitive win in their last 6 outings was a cup game against lower league Chernomorets. Their last 4 league matches have yielded just 2 points and with their struggles extending to Europe, Villarreal have no reason not to fancy this.

They have little choice but to name a stronger side here than they did against Rangers on match-day one. If they can replicate their performance in Bilbao last week, they stand a great chance of winning. They won 3-0 at San Mames and their struggles this season have mostly been at home. Their 3 away fixtures have yielded 2 wins and a draw and they are yet to even concede on their travels in La Liga. They’ve also only lost 1 of their last 8 away in this competition, so going for Villarreal Draw No Bet could be the smart bet here against out of form opponents.