Las Palmas vs Villarreal prediction: SPAIN: LaLiga betting tips on match 2024-01-12 13:00.
Life in La Liga is going relatively well for promoted side Las Palmas, who begin the round in the top half of the table despite falling to back-to-back league defeats against Athletic and Barcelona. To their credit, the Yellows lost by just a single-goal margin in both of those games and may enter this clash against Villarreal with confidence after losing just twice against clubs beginning this round below them in the standings (W5, D3).
The aforementioned sequence even includes an unlikely 2-1 win in the reverse H2H, offering them the chance of a first ever winning H2H league double. Especially strong at Estadio Gran Canaria, Las Palmas have avoided defeat in five of their last seven home league matches (W4, D1), and that’s despite scoring fewer than one goal per match on average in league action this season!
Things haven’t been going quite so well for top-flight mainstays Villarreal, who have not only lost three of their last four league outings, but also crashed out of the Copa del Rey to third-tier Unionistas. At the very least, Villarreal have springtime European football to look forward to, yet their only realistic route back into Europe is winning the UEFA Europa League, courtesy of a yawning 13-point gap to the top six.
Playing away hasn’t favoured the Yellow Submarine of late, underlined by a pair multi-goal margin defeats on their league travels ahead of this trip. Even scoring first doesn’t necessarily guarantee success, as they have done so in five of their nine league trips to date, yet went on to win just two of those quick-starting away days (W2, D1, L2).
Players to watch: Kirian RodrĂguez leads the way for Las Palmas in the league with just three goals, though he has more recently been booked in his last two La Liga appearances either side of a suspension. As for Villarreal, Gerard Moreno had a hand in his side’s only goals in their last two competitive defeats (G1, A1) and is one goal shy of making it ten La Liga goals in a season for the first time since his 23-goal haul in 2020/21.
Hot stat: 16 of Villarreal’s 19 league games this season have seen both teams score, a division high (84%).