Football – Spain – La Liga
Sunday 19th April 2015 – Kickoff: 1700hrs
Camp el Madrigal is the venue of my next pick as hosts Villarreal look to break a five-match run without a win when they take on rock-bottom club Cordoba to keep their Europa League bid on track.
Back-to-back defeats at home to Sevilla and Espanyol respectively have blown any chances they might have had to overhaul Valencia into fourth place, but they must focus on retaining their current league position of sixth with Malaga not too far behind them.
Villarreal have grabbed points on the road recently with draws at Almeria, Valencia and Getafe, but they need to fire up once again on home turf I feel if they’re to confirm Europa League football next season. Their home record stands at a pretty good 10-0-5 26/15 and they’ll no doubt be looking to recapture their recent winning form where they racked up eight straight wins on the trot on home soil.
Cordoba look almost resigned to their fate of being relegated to the Segunda Division as they are now nine points adrift of Almeria with time running out fast. Eleven defeats from their last thirteen La Liga matches confirms that the writing on the wall is appearing ever more obvious for the basement dwellers who now face a mountain to climb if they’re to avoid the drop.
Cordoba’s away form makes for very sorry reading as they’ve lost five of their last six on their travels, while their away record stands at a very disappointing 2-4-9 10/29. But perhaps the most damning statistic for them right now is the fact that they’ve failed to score in four of their last six away matches, and have kept just two clean sheets away all season.
I have to give the nod therefore to Villarreal here who should (and need to) come out of the blocks quickly this afternoon, and I’ll back them to hold a lead at half-time and then win the match. Could be a 1-0 or 2-0 win for the hosts.
Pick: Villarreal HT/FT @ 1.72 bet365
