Valencia and Villarreal expected to produce low-scoring draw

Valencia CF vs Villarreal CF - 05/03/2021

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Villarreal will be hoping to end a seven-game winless streak in La Liga when they face Valencia at the Mestalla on Friday night.

Villarreal have slipped to seventh in the La Liga table following a big downturn in form and now sit 11 points outside the top four.

Meanwhile, Valencia find themselves all the way down in fourteenth – ten points behind Villarreal and just five points clear of the relegation zone.

It is no secret that Valencia are enduring a hugely disappointing campaign in the Spanish top-flight, with just six wins coming from their 25 games this term.

Three of those wins came in the opening nine games of the season, meaning that Valencia have only managed to record three wins in their last 16 league outings.

After losing 2-0 to Real Madrid last month, Valencia beat Celta Vigo by the same scoreline. However, they swiftly returned to losing ways last time out.

Despite enjoying 58% possession, Valencia failed to register a single shot on target against Getafe, with Mouctar Diakhaby seeing red early in the second half.

Still, Valencia can take confidence from the fact that they have only lost four of their least 31 home games in La Liga.

Having said that, Villarreal have been equally as good on their travels recently, going unbeaten in their previous nine away games in all competitions.

However, Villarreal have become La Liga’s draw specialists this season, drawing a whopping 13 of their 25 matches in 2020/21

This means that Villarreal have only suffered four league defeats this term, while only frontrunners Atletico Madrid have lost fewer games.

It goes without saying that Villarreal must start turning draws into wins if they want to qualify for Europe next season.

Villarreal suffered a 2-0 defeat to Atletico last time out, meaning they have failed to win any of their last seven La Liga games (five draws, two losses).

Head-to-head: Villarreal got the better of Valencia in the reverse fixture back in October, winning 2-1 on that occasion.

Interestingly, Valencia claimed five straight victories over Villarreal before that, scoring over 1.5 goals every time.

Team news: Valencia will be without the suspended Mouctar Diakhaby on Friday, while Denis Cheryshev remains sidelined through injury.

On the flip side, Villarreal have four notable injury absentees at the moment, with Alberto Moreno, Vicente Iborra, Mario Gaspar and Francis Coquelin all on the treatment table.

Given the recent form of Valencia and Villarreal, Friday’s match is destined to be a low-scoring encounter with limited clear-cut chances.

Forebet predicts that Villarreal will record yet another draw against Valencia, with under 2.5 match goals expected.

Home team
Away team

Probability %

1X2

Pred

Correct score

Avg. goals

Weather conditions

Coef.

Score

Live
coef.

Es1

Valencia CF Villarreal CF 05/03/2021 21:00

293932

X

1 - 1

2.74

11°

3.60

4.30 3.60 1.92 1 1 -1

FT

2 - 1(0 - 1)

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