Valencia v Villarreal Predictions & Betting Odds – 23rd December 2017

Valencia to collect maximum points at the Mestalla

European Football

Valencia v Villarreal Betting Preview – La Liga 23rd December 3.15pm

It is a big day of action in the Spanish top flight on Saturday as along with the showstopper El Clasico, there is going to be a good duel between Valencia and Villarreal, which is also a top six scrap. Valencia have been putting in a really strong season so far this term but have just started to lose their way a little bit. Villarreal will be looking for momentum after snapping a winless streak that they were on, last weekend.

Valencia v Villarreal Betting Tips

There should be a really good game in store here. Valencia are unbeaten on home soil in the Spanish top flight this season and behind Barcelona only, they are the second highest-scorers in this season’s La Liga. They were on a tremendous eight match winning streak before they bumped into Barcelona and played out a 1-1 draw at the end of November. They have only gone W1 D1 L2 including that Barcelona match up, in their last four played now. The two defeats were out on the road though at Eibar and Getafe who are down in 7th and 8th repetitively and both were only one goal margin defeats. So Valencia are W6 D2 on home soil and they have scored 19 goals at a rate of 2.4 per game at home, shipping just the four goals all season long on home soil. That’s powerful stuff and Valencia to win to nil is a good option at Coral.

Simone Zaza is their top scorer for the season with ten goals and seven of those have been on home soil, so he looks good value to crop up with something in this one. He is a 7/5 anytime goalscorer option for the game with Rodrigo Moreno at 8/5. Last season Valencia and Villareal traded away wins and Valencia have managed only the one win in their last five league outings against Villarreal now (W1 D1 L3). Valencia have actually failed to score in three of their last five games against Villarreal. There will probably be low scoring affair turning up and under 2.5 goals at Coral is worth considering. Taking into consideration the few goals that Valencia have given up on home soil this season as well, then a 1-0 correct score in favour of the home side is at 8/1 odds.

Villarreal managed to get themselves out of their slump with a 1-0 win over Celta Vigo last weekend. That ended a three match losing streak that they were on (winless in four) and so that will have been a relief for them. Granted they did face Sevilla and Barcelona in that three match losing streak. They are sat in sixth in the league heading into the weekend and they have just started to lose touch with the top five in the league so really the three points in this one would be a huge boost for them. Their away form reads W3 D2 L4 this season and their win at Celta Vigo snapped a three match winless streak that they were on on their travels. They have returned just the nine goals in their nine road games so far and with them having conceded at a rate of 1.5 goals per game away from home, you can see why they haven’t done better. 71% of their away goals conceded have turned up in the second half of matches (10 of 14) and of those ten, nine were shipped in the final half hour of games. Closing out games is a clear problem for them.

Valencia v Villarreal Betting Odds

Valencia 21/20, Villarreal 5/2, Draw 11/4

Valencia v Villarreal Predictions

Villarreal really need a boost of a win in this one, however, Valencia are likely going to be too strong on home soil for them to handle. Valencia have produced so well at the Mestalla that they have to be value to strike a win and there is value on them doing so to nil as well.