Villarreal vs Malaga Predictions, Betting Tips and Match Previews

In the first half of the season both Villarreal and Malaga looked to be gearing up for strong campaigns but poor recent runs have set both teams back, particularly the visitors, who are now languishing in 14th place. Confidence isn’t high in either camp right now and this looks like it could be a low-scoring game.

Villarreal still have the best defensive record in La Liga. They’ve conceded just 0.67 goals per game on average and have kept a clean sheet in an impressive 48% of their matches. They displayed plenty of defensive quality to grind out a 0-0 draw at high-flying Sevilla last time out, however, they have real problems at the other end of the pitch right now. With Pato having been sold and top scorer Nicola Sansone joining Roberto Soldado on the treatment table, they are short on striking options and have failed to score in 3 of their last 4 matches.

Malaga’s top scorer Sandro Ramírez has also been missing through injury and his absence continues to be a big blow to their attacking prowess. They haven’t scored more than once in any of their games in 2017 and Marcelo Romero has taken just 1 point from 5 games since taking charge of the Andalusian club in late December. In the early part of the season they were quite an entertaining watch but with so many injuries they’ve had little choice but to adopt a more cautious style and it’s hard to see them being at all adventurous here.

As a result it could develop into a bit of a chess match and the onus will be on Villarreal to try and break them down. They ought to still have enough quality in midfield to do that at least once but overall a low-scoring game looks likely. There have been under 2.5 goals in 67% of their matches in La Liga this term and their games average just 2 goals per game in total.

Given that and given the injury problems both sides have up front, backing Under 2.5 Match Goals at 4/5 looks like the best approach to take here.