Villarreal x Osasuna : The Submarine is desperate for a win

Another game. Another late goal conceded and another pair of valuable points dropped. This has been the never-ending saga of the Yellow Submarine this year. That they still have a 6 point cushion over the danger zone is more of a testament to how bad Racing, Sporting and Zaragoza are than anything about Villarreal.

This week Osasuna visit El Madrigal. The penultimate home game for the the Yellow Submarine. Sporting are playing away at Espanyol, Racing is away to Real Sociedad and Zaragoza entertain Europa League finalists, Athletic. Villarreal will know the results of Sporting & Racing before going into their game. Zaragoza wont play their game until Sunday.

As usual the fans have been doing their best to egg on the team to reach safety. A march is planned on the eve of the game. There will also be a lot of flags (about 20k of them) that fans plan to wave during the game.

3 points would go a long way in ensuring safety.

Form Guide:

Villarreal : D-D-W-L-D in their last 5 games scoring just 6 of 15 points

Osasuna : D-L-W-L-L in the last 5 games scoring just 4 of 15 points

Both teams are struggling but Osasuna's job is done, Villarreal still needs some points to be safe.

Home form of Villarreal: They bend but rarely break. 6 Wins 9 Draws and 2 Losses

Away form of Osasuna: Bad. 2 Wins 8 draws and 6 losses.

Match-ups :

Limiting the influence of Raúl García will be the key for Villarreal. He has been having a fabulous season. Bruno will most likely be entrusted to shadow him during the game.

Nekounam & Puñal are steady but nothing spectacular. The former can be deadly in set-pieces.

Target man Lekic, 193cm tall will certainly cause a lot of problems to the Villarreal defence. The back-four needs to have an error-free game to keep him off the scoresheet.


For Villarreal, Ruben & Borja Valero will be key to unlock the Osasuna defence. Cani had a great game and opened the scoring when these two met in El Sadar in December. That game will be remembered for the meltdown after taking a lead in the 2nd half followed by the firing of the then coach Juan Carlos Garrido.


Team news & Likely Line-ups:

Villarreal 4-2-3-1

Lopez; Jaume Costa-Zapata-Musacchio-Ángel; Bruno-Senna; Borja-Cani-Pérez; Ruben

Osasuna 4-2-3-1

Andrés; Damia-Flaño-Lolo-Bertran; Nekounam-Puñal; Nino-Raul Garcia-Cejudo; Lekic

Conclusion:

This is a must win. Vamos Submarino #VILOSA