Malaga and Villarreal will do battle at the Estadio La Rosaleda on the eighteenth match day of the La Liga campaign. These two sides are pushing for a spot in Europe next season and three points for either side will go a long way in achieving their goal. It will not be easy, however, as both clubs are in good form and there should be some good football throughout the entirety of this match.
As things stand, the home side are currently sitting in seventh place in the La Liga table and just a point below their rivals for this match. Malaga may not score a lot of goals – only 21 on the season – but they play excellent defense as they boast one of the best defensive records in the top flight of Spanish football. In his second year with the club, 24-year-old Samu has been able to find the score sheet four times with young Juanmi closely behind with three. Los Boquerones will need contributions from more of the squad, on the offensive side of the ball, if they wish to make it into a European league next season.
For the men in yellow, they have already found the back of the net on 29 different occasions and are led by 21-year-old Argentinean forward Luciano Vietto with eight goals in first season in the famous yellow. Not only do they have forwards who can consistently get on the score sheet, Villarreal play excellent defense. They ended 2014 with five straight victories which included four shutouts. Head coach Marcelino will hope to get back to their old ways defensively as they scraped out a 2-2 draw with Elche in their first match of 2015.
For the home side, things will be just a little bit more difficult with the laundry-list of injuries that they are suffering at the moment. Ignacio Camacho, Weligton, Sergio Sanchez, Flavio, and Roberto Chen all miss out on the match due to various ailments. Their counterparts fair better here with Jaunme Costa and Pina missing the clash because of suspension while Bojan Jokic is continues to be sidelined with a knee injury that he has dealt with all season long.
Expect this match to be costless-flowing with lots of chances on both ends. Both sides like to attack with width. The yellow submarine will use their compact defense to hit their opposition on the counter. Malaga will look to get set-piece opportunities close around the eighteen yard box as this is where they do most of their damage.