Villarreal-Sevilla PREVIEW

To translate Sevilla's coach's comments, "Villarreal fire me up"!   Well,  the Yellows will be hoping to pour water on Unai Emery's plans.

To describe Sevilla as a rival is an understatement.   Emery's side were a constant threat to us last season, and even when we deserved better, we couldn't post a win against them.  Four losses, two of them in pouring rain, two in the league, two in the Europa League.  Surely this season will be different?

Villarreal will be hoping that a victory will be a turn of form as the Yellows languish in 5th place.  Both sides have been struggling, with games in Europe causing fatigue.   Last week's draw against Las Palmas was a hard fought match-- a match we should have won, even with the heavy pitch and the long travel.

Sevilla seem to have found a way to combat our tactics, so expect the Gaffa to change it up a bit.  A win would not only give us some separation over Sevilla, we could catch up with Atletico Madrid on 20 points.

Great to see we  have two strikers for this one. A couple weeks ago we saw Soldado and Cedric form a formidable partnership. It has been a exciting but frustrating season at times but providing our strikers stay fit.   Also on the plus side, Sevilla's in-form Banega is out for this one after not recovering from an injury in time.  The Argentine has been highlighted by our former manager Pellegrini so it is probably a good thing he isn't playing.

Villarreal squad:
Goalkeepers: Barbosa y Areola.
Defence: Mario, Rukavina, Jaume Costa, Eric Bailly, Bonera y Víctor Ruiz.
Midfielders: Bruno, Jonathan dos Santos, Pina, Trigueros, Samuel García, Samu Castillejo, Denis Suárez y Nahuel.
Strikers: Soldado y Bakambu.

Sevilla:
Sergio Rico, David Soria, Mariano, Coke, Trémoulinas, Escudero, Andreolli, Rami, Kolo, Krychowiak, Krohn-Dehli, Iborra, N´Zonzi, Reyes, Cristóforo, Konoplyanka, Vitolo, Llorente y Gameiro.

My big thanks to Allen for covering for me for the last week. Here is positivity that I am famous for. I can see a 2-0 victory here with the return of the strikers.