Villarreal v Rangers Betting Preview – UEFA Europa League 20th September 7.55pm
Rangers landed themselves in the Europa League group stage after missing out on their shot at the Champions League. The Scottish outfit lost in the playoff round there to drop down to the Europa League. They get a tough group stage opener here as well as they have to make the trip to Spain to face Villarreal. Read our predictions for the Villarreal v Rangers fixture.
Villarreal News and Form
It has been a slow start to the season for Villarreal who are W1 D1 L2 for the season. Last season they made it out of the group stage in the Europa League but were limited by Lyon in the first knocked stage. Last season Villarreal took a very good fifth-place finish in La Liga to get back to the competition. They are pretty familiar with the UEFA Europa League they have gotten out of their group in each of their last three Group stage campaigns.
Their form is W3 D2 L3 across their last eight European fixtures. But they have struggled for returns with a poor W1 D2 L4 record on home soil in Europe in their last seven. So that should give Rangers a glimmer of hope and they need that because this will be a tough away game for the Scottish side. For the fixture, we are looking under 2.5 goals for our Villarreal v Rangers predictions at 43/40 odds* (betting odds taken from September 17th, 2018 at 10:32 pm)
Rangers News and Form
Rangers had to go from the first round of Champions League qualifying this season and made it to the playoff round. But that was it for them as they took a drop down to the Europa League. So it has been a really busy season for them this season but to their credit, they have only suffered one defeat, an Old Firm derby against Celtic in the Premiership at the start of September. Their away form this season is only W2 D5 L1 so have been struggling for those wins.
Rangers have not managed to take a clean sheet in any of their last four games away from home, and we are going with both teams not to score in this one at 4/6 odds* (betting odds taken from September 17th, 2018 at 10:32 pm). This is going to be toughest away game that Rangers will get in the group and they will likely go defensive to play for a point. There is a lot of value in digging out a point in Spain for them.
Villarreal v Rangers Head to Head
These two have met before as they were in the 2006 Champions League group stage together. There was a 2-2 draw at Ibrox between them and then the reverse fixture finished in a 1-1 draw.
Villarreal v Rangers Betting Odds*
Villarreal 2/7
Draw 9/2
Rangers 9/1
* (Betting Odds were taken from bet365 on September 17th, 2018 at 2:12 p.m.)
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Villarreal v Rangers Predictions
Rangers may find the going tough out in Spain on Thursday night as they face a very competent side. Villarreal genuinely look the good option on home soil but there isn’t great value on the home win in the match outright, so for our Villarreal v Rangers predictions, we are looking at Villarreal to win to nil.
