Villanovense vs Sevilla Predictions

Villanovense, who operate in Spain’s third tier, are in good form at present, though facing a side of Sevilla’s calibre will be very different to what they’re used to. Despite being unbeaten in four, José Manuel Roca Cases’ men probably won’t approach this match feeling too confident, even though they’re in front of their own fans, though they will undoubtedly be looking forward to testing themselves against one of the top teams.

On their own patch, the hosts have done reasonably well of late, though in the league, they’ve won just two matches at Estadio Municipal Villanovense this season, which doesn’t exactly bode well ahead of this fixture. Offensively, they haven’t made too much headway, with just four goals in their last five and just five overall at home during the current campaign, while they’ve conceded six.

However, though their league form hasn’t been excellent in front of their own fans, Villanovense have done reasonably well when playing on their own patch in the Copa del Rey in recent times. Thursday’s hosts have lost just one of their previous five home games in this competition, while they even managed to secure a 0-0 draw against footballing giants Barcelona back in 2015. Things have changed since then, though manager Cases will likely be reminding his side of such exploits.

As far as the visitors are concerned, well, Sevilla did recently taste defeat against Barcelona, though their attacking efforts on that occasion were pleasing, while they’ve since bounced back with a pair of wins, beating Akhisarspor by six goals to nil in the Europa League and Huesca by two goals to one in La Liga.

Domestically, Sevilla have shown more than enough on their travels this season to suggest that they can dominate their lowly hosts in this match. Pablo Machín’s side have scored an impressive 15 goals in just five away La Liga games this season, while they’re averaging an impressive 2.45 expected goals for on their travels. Such stats bode well.

In addition to their pleasing league exploits of late, Sevilla have done very well when playing against lesser teams on the road in this competition in recent years. Last year, they convincingly got the better of second division Cadiz, winning 2-0 away from home, while they beat Cartegena 3-0 and Formentera 5-1 on the road the previous year.

In all honesty, there’s a gulf in class between this pair and that is likely to become apparent right from the word go. Sevilla can really hurt the lesser teams, as both their recent 6-0 win over Turkish opposition and their recent record against lower-level clubs in this competition suggests, and they’re backed to assert themselves in this match. Backing ‘Sevilla to Score Over 2.5 Goals’, which they’ve done in each of their last five matches against third division teams, is the way to go.