The Submarine visits El Molinón

About four months ago, Villarreal visited El Molinón and got a huge 2-3 win which, at the time seemed like the win that would keep Villarreal safe. We all know what happened later. A lot of things have changed in the past four months. Both clubs are playing in the Segunda División now. While Villarreal have been able to get the results that they so sorely missed last season, Sporting have gone in the other direction. They are just 2 spots off the foot of the table very close to the relegation zone. With 5/6ths of the season is still to be played, Sporting have a lot of time left to get back into contention for promotion.

This game is also special because of how adored the late Manuel Preciado by the Sporting faithful. If he were alive, this would have been a sort of homecoming for him. RIP Preciado. He might be watching this one from up above.

Moving on to the game at hand, Sporting have just one game so far. While they have let in a lot of goals (12 in 7 games) their real problem has been scoring goals. They have scored just 7 goals (17th out of 22 teams).

Sporting not unlike Villarreal has retained a lot of the players from last season. Mate Bilic, Sangoy, Canella and Trejo to name a few.

El Molinón is one of the most atmospheric stadiums in Spain. The Sporting faithful will ensure an very good attendance to will their team to a win. Getting a win against a promotion candidate will be a confidence boost for under-pressure coach Manuel Sanchez. It will be a tough game for Villarreal tomorrow.

Villarreal will miss Musacchio and Oriol. Florian Lejeune will most likely take the spot of Musacchio and Jaume Costa will fill in at the left back. With Senna back, expect him to join Bruno in the double-pivot. Cani & Trigueros on the wings with Cavenaghi and Hernán Pérez as the forwards.

Villarreal has been defending well so far. They have just conceded 4 goals so far in 7 games. The have had their problems scoring goals. Another problem has been the high numbers of yellow cards. This is probably due to not being in sync with Segunda refs, who are more inconsistent than their Primera counterparts (which is saying something).

The team needs to score early to calm the crowd down. Since Sporting also has problems scoring goals, I wont be surprised with a 0-0 draw.

Injury News

Villarreal will be without Musacchio (injured) and Oriol (suspended).

Sporting will miss Lora, De las Cuevas, Nacho Cases and Sergio Fernández due to injuries.

Teams

Villarreal Squad

Juan Carlos, Diego Mariño, Javi Venta, Mario, Mellberg, Truyols, Lejeune, Jaume Costa, Marcos Senna, Bruno, Cani, Manu Trigueros, Moi Gómez, Hernán Pérez , Toribio, Gerard Bordas, Uche, Cavenaghi

Expected line-up(4-4-2)

Juan Carlos; Mario-Lejeune-Mellberg-Costa; Senna-Bruno;Cani-Trigueros; Cavenaghi-Hernán Pérez

Sporting Squad

Juan Pablo, Cuéllar, Pedro Orfila, Mandi, Ricardo León, Carmelo, Hugo Vieira, Juan Muñiz, Bilic, Sangoy, Gregory, Iván Hernández, Canella, Marcos Landeira, David, Carmona, Mendy, Trejo, Álex Barrera y Luis Hernández.

We need those 3 points! Vamos submarino! #Tornarem