Villarreal vs Osmanlispor predictions, betting tips & match preview

Osmanlispor are just a point behind Villarreal going into this round of games. The Spanish side are currently top, but they don’t have much breathing space in a very tight group. Can the Yellow Submarine take control with a win at home to an out of form Osmanlispor side? If they could, they’d be on the verge of booking a place in the knockout round.

Villarreal did suffer a setback at the weekend, as they lost 2-1 away to Eibar. They have one of the strongest defensive records in Spain, but that’s starting to slip. They found themselves 1-0 down at home to Las Palmas at half-time recently, and then they conceded two at Eibar. That should open things up for Osmanlispor to cause them some trouble at the back.

While Villarreal have conceded just 0.7 goals a game after their weekend upset, almost half of the goals they’ve conceded came in their last two league games. They’re looking much more open, and 60% of their home league matches have seen both teams score. Five of their last seven in La Liga have seen both sides hit the target, while eight of their last 10 in all competitions have seen BTTS come in.

Villarreal are yet to keep a clean sheet in this Europa League group, despite their strong defensive record domestically. They managed to concede twice away to Osmanlispor a couple of weeks ago, while they failed to keep a clean sheet at home to Zurich in their opening European game. Will they finally keep a European clean sheet here?

Osmanlispor come here having scored in every game in this group so far. They’ve hit five goals in three games, or 1.7 per match. While the Turkish side are in poor form and having a tough season, they’re not having that much trouble in front of goal. In fact, they’ve scored in 10 of their last 11 matches.

The visitors have managed to convert 17% of their chances in Europe so far, they’re clearly a clinical side. Villarreal, meanwhile, have scored from 14% of their shots in Europe. Osmanlispor did concede twice in their one away match in this group, and they’re likely to ship a few more against the Yellow Submarine; who have hit 2.4 goals on average per home match this term.

Given how open Villarreal are becoming, and how high scoring these two sides are, we’re backing both teams to score when they meet on Thursday. BTTS here is well priced at 6/5 with bet365, that looks like good value when you consider their rich scoring form.