Barcelona vs Villarreal Odds & Preview
Villarreal Winless in 2024
Barcelona Go For Fourth Straight La Liga Win
Villarreal have played four matches so far in 2024, and they’re yet to grab a win. They’ve got a difficult match on their hands on Saturday as they take on Barcelona in La Liga. Barcelona, the defending La Liga champions, have won their last three La Liga games, but they’ve fallen eight points behind in the title race. Barça will be looking for all three points on Saturday when they host Villarreal, and we’ll take a closer look at the Barcelona vs Villarreal odds.
⚽ Barcelona vs Villareal ⚽
Day/Time:
Location: Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, Barcelona, Spain
Streaming: Watch Live Sports
Head-to-Head
Recent La Liga scores in this fixture have gone Barcelona’s way. Barcelona have won the last three meetings and eight of the previous nine. When Barcelona and Villarreal met in August, it was a wild match. Barcelona took an early 2-0 lead, but hosts Villarreal fought back to go up 3-2 by the 50th minute.
Goals from Ferran Torres and Robert Lewandowski handed Barcelona a 4-3 win. The Barcelona vs Villarreal odds priced Barça as +110 favorites. In the last 15 years, Villarreal have just one road win over Barcelona.
Barcelona Grab Late Winner at Real Betis
Barcelona went on the road to Seville for a match at Real Betis on Sunday. Ferran Torres scored twice to put Barcelona two goals to the good. However, former Real Madrid man Isco scored twice quickly to put Real Betis back into the match.
Substitute Joao Felix scored the winning goal for Barcelona in the 90th minute, while Ferran Torres completed his hat trick soon after in Barcelona’s 4-2 victory.
Although Barcelona have won six of their last seven competitive matches, they’re in third place in the Spanish La Liga standings. Barça currently trail both Girona and rivals Real Madrid. Prior to Barcelona’s match vs Villarreal, they take on Athletic Club in a Copa del Rey Quarter-final matchup on Wednesday.
Barcelona are going for their first Copa del Rey crown in three years and are the current favorites to win the tournament. However, they’re eight points behind in the La Liga title race, and it’s getting exceedingly difficult for them to defend their title.
Manager Xavi is also under pressure and Barcelona need to continue to get results for him to have job security. Robert Lewandowski hasn’t scored at his usual pace this season as the Polish legend has just eight goals in 18 games.
While Torres had an excellent game on Sunday, right winger Lamine Yamal also had some excellent moments. Barcelona are dealing with more than a few injuries as all of Gavi, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Marcos Alonso, Joao Cancelo, Iñigo Martinez, Raphinha and Andreas Christensen could miss Saturday’s game.
Defense the Issue for Villarreal
Villarreal have now conceded a goal in their last 13 games on the La Liga schedule. They were minutes away from a shutout victory over Mallorca on Saturday but conceded a stoppage-time equalizer.
With the 1-1 draw, Villarreal stayed in 14th place in the league, and they’ve been incredibly disappointing this season. Villarreal have been mainstays in European competition over the last decade but it doesn’t look like they’ll qualify this season.
They’ve won just one of their last seven La Liga matches and have conceded two goals per game this season. Villarreal have also sacked two coaches this season and Marcelino is now in charge for a second spell. While only six La Liga teams have scored more goals than Villarreal this season, only last-placed Almeria have conceded more times.
Defense has been the clear issue for the Yellow Submarine in 2023-24, and they recently brought in Eric Bailly from Besiktas to shore up their backline. At the moment, Alfonso Pedraza, Dani Parejo, Ramon Terrats, Juan Foyth, and Yeremy Pino are out injured. Meanwhile, Aissa Mandi is away with Algeria at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Match Analysis & Odds
In the last five meetings at Barcelona, Barça have won four and they’ve outscored Villarreal 11-3. Barcelona are playing on short rest on Saturday, but they’re still -300 favorites for this match. The Barcelona vs Villarreal odds also price the visitors as +735 underdogs, and a draw comes in at +505.
Villarreal haven’t picked up a road win in La Liga since late October, and their form has been a cause for significant concern. With wins in their last three La Liga games, Barcelona enter Saturday as 1.5-goal favorites. Bettors can take Barcelona -1.5 at -120 odds and Villarreal +1.5 at even La Liga odds.
Ferran Torres has scored four goals in his last two matches for Barcelona and it wouldn’t at all be a surprise if Xavi hands him another start. With how poor Villarreal have been on defense, don’t be surprised if this one turns into a goal fest. Over 3.5 goals currently shows -115 odds for this La Liga clash.
For La Liga betting news, odds analysis, and more, visit Point Spreads Sports Magazine.
