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As I type this, I’m watching Huesca lead Real Madrid and I’m starkly reminded how little standings matter in La Liga Santander. We need a win very badly but the team we are playing is desperate as well. I normally dislike cliches but frankly we are going to need to be the team that wants this one more.
Lineups
¡Y este es el once inicial amarillo para el Martínez Valero !
— Villarreal CF (@VillarrealCF) February 6, 2021
A partir de las 18.30h, @elchecf #Villarreal ( en directo por @MovistarFutbol). pic.twitter.com/D7UBUcBQGl
I’m VERY surprised to see Pedraza starting. I think this is a massive message to Estupinan from Unai Emery. Pedraza played all 120 minutes against Levante on Thursday. Given the quality of both players I was sure Emery would go ahead and give Estupinan the nod here and let Alfonso rest. Not so. Pervis clearly has a lot to convince his manager of if he is to make it at this club.
We do have Gerard, Parejo, and Paco all starting for only the sixth time this season. We average 2.2 points per match in the other five matches so far, with one of the draws there being against runaway league leaders Atleti. No excuses here. We are banged up but we should still win. Looks like we have a Jaume Costa at RB appearance, so that should be interesting. Gerard will need to be sharp because he’s probably on his own attacking that flank. Keep an eye on Coquelin’s positioning here. Early in the year he had a bad tendency of roaming forward and leaving space in behind, but that’s been better as of late. It will need to be better again today.
Thoughts?
Tell us what you think in the comments.