Girona vs Villarreal prediction: SPAIN: LaLiga betting tips on match 2025-05-09 16:30.
[p]Girona finally ended their 11-match winless run in La Liga by beating Mallorca 1-0 in their last outing, and in doing so, may have preserved their place in the top flight. There’s still plenty of work to do, particularly as their two remaining home games against European contenders Villarreal and Atlético Madrid look set to be difficult ones. [/p]
[p]Girona sat in the top half with Villarreal when the reverse fixture ended in a 2-2 draw back in December. Things have quickly soured for Michel’s men since then, but a home fixture could be just what they need here given that seven of their ten La Liga wins this term have come on their own turf (D3, L7), although they’ve lost all three such games there as outsiders. [/p]
[p]Villarreal’s place in the top five is under continuous pressure from chasers Real Betis, but back-to-back wins have kept the Yellow Submarine in control of their own destiny with four matches remaining. Only Barcelona and Real Madrid have won more points on the road this term, so they’ve more than earned their favourites tag for this trip to Catalonia.[/p]
[p]Marcelino’s men have carried that tag with confidence, winning six of the seven La Liga away games in which they were expected to win by bookmakers. That faith is unsurprising considering that Villarreal have won each of their last six trips to face Girona, with five of those victories coming by slender one-goal margins![/p]
[p]Players to watch: Portu has failed to score in his last 33 games, last finding the net in May 2024. He may not be far off ending his drought after generating a higher xG total than any other player in last week’s win over Mallorca (0.41). Thierno Barry was on target last week for his ninth scoring appearance of the campaign for Villarreal (W8, D1), with the only failure to win coming in the reverse fixture![/p]
[p]Hot stat: A joint-league high 71% of Villarreal’s games this La Liga season saw both teams score ahead of this round.[/p]
[p][i]Written by Aaron Murphy[/i][/p]