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A series of events leave Villarreal really shorthanded as they take on Depor at the Riazor. Here is the squad call:
Keepers: Asenjo and Andrés.
Defenders: Mario, Rukavina, José Ángel, Bonera, Víctor Ruiz and Álvaro.
Midfielders: Bruno, Rodrigo, Trigueros, Jonathan dos Santos, N'Diaye, Samu Castillejo and Leo Suárez.
Strikers: Pato, Santos Borré and Mario González.
Bakambu is in Africa on international duty, while Cheryshev, Musacchio and Soldado are injured. But in addition to those, Jaume Costa and Sansone miss for sanctions (red card in the case of Jaume Costa, and five yellows for Sansone). And Roberto Soriano is missing as well—he has a stomach bug and although Escribá was hopeful he could travel to Galicia after recovering, and join the team there, he had to call up Leo Suárez instead.
So it looks as though our team is likely to be:
Asenjo; Mario, Alvaro, Ruiz, Jose Angel; Jona dos, Bruno, Trigueros, Samu; Pato and Santos Borré.
Okay, but not our first-choice XI.
Depor: Ex-Villarreal cantera man Florin Andone has scored seven goals for the Galicians; Gaizka Gaiteano has his team on 17 poiints from 17 matches, which is probably decent enough to stay up if they can continue it. At home, not bad form (4-1-3), though they will mis Carles Gil, Juanfran, and Bruno Gama, all out.
The Depor defense isn’t great, but will we have enough firepower to test it? Villarreal’s defense, meanwhile, hasn’t kept a clean sheet in the last five outings (a 3-1 win, a 3-1 loss, three 1-1 draws) so it’s sure tempting to....
....Predict: Depor 1-1 Villarreal