Las Palmas-Villarreal PREVIEW

Villarreal play UD Las Palmas tomorrow, which means, among other things, that we have to break out our rarely-used second kit, as the islanders wear yellow tops themselves. Las Palmas are doing okay—they started off well, but their defense (45 goals allowed) just hasn’t been that good of late, and Coach Quique Setien himself admits they really just need a couple of victories to stay up— their definition of a successful season.

They have some good players—Jonathan Viera, Jesé, and of course Kevin-Prince Boateng, and tend to play possession football, likely lining up in a 4-3-3 or 4-1-4-1. In the second half against Celta, Villarreal conceded possession a good deal but were able to prevent any real dangerous attacks on goal, while creating a couple of chances with through balls. Expect that sort of style here, though if Cedric Bakambu is unable to go, and Cheryshev on the shelf, Santos Borré might be the closest thing we have to a speed demon to latch onto those balls from Trigueros and Bruno.

All-time record: Interestingly, this is only the eighth Primera meeting between these two. Villarreal are 3-0-1 at home, 1-1-1 on the road. The road win was a 5-1 laugher in December 2000 (Las Palmas finished with nine men), the home side won a year later 3-2 (still, finishing with 10 men), and last season, the teams played out a 0-0 draw which for entertainment value, was pretty poor.

Prediction: 1-1.