Betis vs Villarreal prediction: SPAIN: LaLiga betting tips on match 2024-03-09 20:00.
[p]Real Betis’ five-game unbeaten run in La Liga competition ended with a narrow 2-1 loss at Atlético Madrid, ensuring their hold on sixth place in the standings is by no means assured with a chasing pack behind them. Recent home form across all competitions and against upcoming opponents Villarreal also offer no guarantees of Manuel Pellegrini’s side securing three important points here.[/p]
[p]They’ll certainly be hoping that a commanding 3-1 defeat of Athletic Bilbao in their most recent La Liga home outing has put to bed the disappointment of just one win from the eight prior competitive home games (D4, L3), particularly as that period included draws against Getafe (1-1) and Alavés (0-0), who started this round either side of Villarreal in the standings.[/p]
[p]Villarreal are all but out of the UEFA Europa League after losing their first leg 4-0 in Marseille, and are also going to need a miraculous run home domestically to return to continental football in 2024/25. Their recent La Liga form, which includes sparkling wins over Barcelona (5-3 away) and Real Sociedad (3-1 away) in a seven-game unbeaten run in this competition (W3, D4), could be too late to make an impact.[/p]
[p]They started this round still ten points behind Betis, which is a large deficit to eradicate in just 11 games, but encouragingly they’ve only lost once in the last four H2Hs at Estadio Benito VillamarĂn. There are also signs they’re improving against strong opposition, as prior to defeating Barcelona and Sociedad in two of their last three La Liga away games, Villarreal had lost all ten league games against teams joining Betis in the top nine at the start of this round! [/p]
[p]Players to watch: Betis need more from Brazilian Willian José, who has contributed a goal or assist to each of their last two La Liga wins as well as delivering the match-winning goal in the reverse H2H. For Villarreal, new recruit Alexander Sørloth is now one strike away from matching the 11 goalscoring appearances he notched up last La Liga season for Real Sociedad.[/p]
[p]Hot stat: A league-high 81% of Villarreal’s La Liga games this season saw both teams score on the day.[/p]