Villarreal vs Rapid Vienna Predictions

Villarreal welcome Rapid Vienna to the Estadio de la Cerámica on Thursday, knowing that a win could catapult them from third to top spot in Europa League Group G.

The Spanish side have made a solid enough start to their UEL campaign, drawing each of their first two matches in Group G, though El Submarino Amarillo will know they will need to start stringing some wins together soon if they are to top the section that they are favourites to win.

Villarreal will have to dig themselves out of the rut that has seen them win just once in seven in all competitions however. The result that kicked off that poor sequence was their 2-2 draw with Rangers on match day one of the Europa League.

The Spaniards had led twice at home against the Scottish giants, before they were begged back each time. Similarly, Villarreal led twice away to Spartak Moscow on match day two, though they eventually needed a last gasp Santi Cazorla penalty to rescue a point after falling behind 3-2 with just five minutes on the clock.

With the Group approaching its mid-way point, anything less than a victory on Thursday against a Rapid Vienna side that has lost three of their last four would be seen as unacceptable by Villarreal boss Javier Calleja.

Rapid are languishing in 9^th position in the Austrian Bundesliga after eleven matches and emulating their 3^rd place finish of last season already looks a tall order. In the Europa League, Die Grün-Weißen have won one and lost one so far in a brace of displays that produced highly contrasting performances.

The Austrians were impressive in their opening group game win against Russian side Spartak Moscow, though they were very poor in their second Group G match in Scotland against Rangers.

Rapid actually took the lead at Ibrox before suffering a capitulation that more or less summed up their entire season so far. At the weekend, Rapid were trounced 3-0 by newly promoted Hartberg in the Austrian top-flight, a result that’s sure to have eroded their confidence even further ahead of their trip to Spain.

Bizarrely, Villarreal have yet to win a match at home this season, though their recent draws at the Estadio de la Cerámica against Valencia and Atletico Madrid show their ability to mix it with top teams.

Rapid Vienna have nowhere near the class of those Spanish giants however. Die Grün-Weißen have lost six of their last eight away matches in all competitions and we expect that horrible record to lengthen in Spain on Thursday.

It should be noted that Villarreal have only kept two clean sheets in seven however, and with their habit of dropping their guard well established, we recommend taking the home win and both teams to score combination for Thursday’s clash. In our correct score prediction, we’re tipping Villarreal to win 2-1.