Villarreal vs Leganes Predictions

• Villarreal have won three out of their last four La Liga matches at La Ceramica.
• Leganes are without an away win in La Liga this season, drawing five and losing seven of their 12 outings on the road so far.
• Villarreal have won the last five meetings between the sides, including a convincing 0-3 success when the teams met at Butarque in September’s reverse fixture.

Consecutive away defeats damaging for Villarreal

Athletic Bilbao’s lengthy winless streak in La Liga had to come to an end at some stage, and unfortunately for Villarreal it came at their expense at San Mames on Matchday 26.

El Submarino Amarillo turned in a flat display as veteran Raul Garcia settled matters for Bilbao from the penalty spot ten minutes into the second half; the result condemning Villarreal to consecutive away defeats following their 3-1 loss to Atletico Madrid a fortnight ago.

Villarreal are now eighth in the table and seven points adrift of the Champions League places, so they simply have to regain the winning thread this Sunday to keep their hopes of a top four finish alive.

Europa League qualification is perhaps a more realistic target for Javier Calleja’s side, but they still have plenty of work to do on that score as well, with sixth placed Real Sociedad five points in front of them and nursing a game in hand.

Nonetheless, Villarreal will back themselves to get the job done this weekend, after beating Leganes 0-3 in September’s reverse fixture. They have won their last five meetings against Los Pepineros and rate as a far superior side overall as the current 18 point gap between the teams implies.

Leganes struggling to make headway

Leganes’ bid for survival was looking up at the start of February after they managed to claim four points from fixtures against Atletico Madrid and Real Sociedad, but Javier Aguirre’s charges have since earned just two points from their last four matches.

Last weekend’s 1-1 home draw against a poorly travelled Alaves side was an obvious missed opportunity for Los Pepineros, and they are back to being five points adrift of the safety line with 12 games remaining this season.

Lega’s recent regression is clearly worrying ahead of their trip to La Ceramica this Sunday, where Villarreal have performed consistently well this term (W6, D4 and L2). But the visitors’ overall away record is their biggest concern as they are still searching for their first victory on the road after five draws and seven defeats from 12 outings.

Banker material

Villarreal need to hit back this Sunday after consecutive defeats, but everything points towards them doing so providing Javier Calleja’s men remain in a positive frame of mind.

The distance between themselves and the European places has opened up significantly, but this Sunday’s clash at La Ceramica offers up an excellent chance for The Yellow Submarine to regain some ground.

The hosts have generally been reliable in their own backyard this term with six wins gained and just two defeats suffered in a dozen matches, so we’re extremely confident that they can see off a Lega outfit that have toiled badly on their travels.

For correct score punters, we’re also tipping up a 2-0 scoreline. Villarreal have averaged just a shade over two goals per game at La Ceramica this season while managing four clean sheets at the other end of the field. Meanwhile, Lega have failed to score in seven of their 12 away fixtures, so it’s easy to envisage Calleja’s side keeping their powder dry en route to a sixth straight success against Los Pepineros.