Barcelona host Villarreal this Saturday at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys in a big weekend in La Liga. The hosts look to close in on Real Madrid, whereas Villarreal need the points to build a bigger gap between themselves and the relegation zone.
- Barcelona to win @ 2/7 on William Hill
- Over 2.5 goals @ 2/7 on Paddy Power
- Both teams to score @ 8/13 on William Hill
These odds are correct at the time of publication and are subject to change.
The top of the table is tight in La Liga, with Barcelona needing to string more wins together to get themselves in the fight for the title. Villarreal find themselves in the bottom half of the table needing a win to get away from the drop zone.
Barcelona currently sit third in La Liga after 20 games. The Blaugrana have 13 wins, five draws and two losses, leaving them on 44 points, seven points behind Real Madrid and eight points behind top-of-the-league Girona.
In 20 games this season, Barcelona have managed the third most goals in the league, with 40 goals also giving them an average of two goals a game. However, unlike those above them, their top scorer Robert Lewandowski has yet to break into the double digits this season. The defensive side of the game has let Barcelona down, having conceded 24 goals this season already, an average of 1.20 goals a game, ranking their defence eighth in the league.
Villarreal, on the other hand, currently sit 14th in La Liga. In 21 games, Villarreal have five wins, five draws and 11 losses which leaves them on 20 points, just five points above the relegation zone.
In terms of attack, Villarreal have over-performed for their place in the league table. In those 21 games, Villarreal have scored 28 goals, giving them an average of 1.33 goals a game. However, their defence is ranked second worst in the league, having conceded 42 goals and keeping just two clean sheets.
Barcelona and Villarreal have met 43 times so far in their histories. One side dominates this fixture, with Barcelona having 28 wins in comparison to Villarreal’s six wins, with the other nine games ending in a share of the points.
This fixture is also a high-scoring one. In the 43 games between the two sides, there have been 141 goals, with Barcelona scoring 94 of them and Villarreal only managing 47 of them.
