Villarreal vs Monaco Predictions & Betting Tips, Match Previews

Villarreal enjoyed a decent season in Spain last year as they finished in 4th position in La Liga, sending them through to the Champions League playoffs for the first time since the 2008/09 season.

They must have thought they were in with a great chance of making it to the group stages, but unfortunately for them they were handed one of the toughest draws available at this stage when they drew Monaco out of the hat.

The hosts have been decent in Europe recently though. They made it to the semi finals of the Europa League last season only to be beaten by Liverpool, and the season before they were eliminated by Europa League specialists Sevilla in the last 16. They had endured a gap in European football prior to that, but their appearance in the 2010/11 season saw them go to the semi finals again.

Villarreal haven’t played a competitive game this season though, and their pre-season hasn’t exactly been spectacular. They have lost three in a row and are winless in their last six summer friendlies. Add to that the fact that they have the likes of Roberto Soldado, Jonathan dos Santos, Denis Cheryshev, and Nicolas Sansone all unavailable for this clash and they could find it a difficult one.

Monaco opened their competitive campaign in the last round of Champions League qualifying, beating Fenerbahce 4-3 on aggregate before being handed yet another unfortunately tough fixture in the playoffs. They kicked off their domestic season with a 2-2 draw at Guingamp at the weekend as well, so their defence isn’t as sturdy as it was last season.

The visitors were handed a tough playoff fixture last season as well when Valencia knocked them out, but in the 2014/15 campaign they managed to make it to the quarter finals of the Champions League only to be knocked out by Juventus. The fact that they knocked out Arsenal shows that they do have the quality in Europe though.

All of Monaco’s competitive fixtures this season have been high scoring affairs, with a total of 11 goals being scored in their three games so far. Extending back into last season they have seen eight of their last ten competitive matches end with at least three goals scored. Over half of Villarreal’s last 13 outings have had more than two goals scored as well, so I think this one could be a surprisingly high scoring affairs.

The bookies certainly don’t think it will be, but I’m expecting a more open game judging by Monaco’s performances so far this term. Odds of 7/5 for Over 2.5 Goals look incredibly good value, so I’m backing that along with a 2-2 correct score prediction at 18/1.