Levante travel to El Madrigal on Saturday evening to take on in-form side Villarreal, in La Liga.
El Submarino Amarillo are in excellent form at present and are undefeated in their last sixteen games in all competitions. They are currently in sixth place in the league table at the moment, with their home form of late being particularly impressive. They have won six matches in a row at El Madrigal without conceding a goal and they will be confident of extending that run against struggling Levante.
Levante sit nineteenth in La Liga, one point from safety. Levante are La Liga's second lowest goal scorers and have the second worst defensive record. They have failed to win in their last seven league games and away from home they are without a win in their last nine games in all competitions.
Villarreal will be without their on loan winger Denis Cheryshev who is suspended. Adrian Marin and Bojan Jokic also miss out through injury but the big news is there is no place in the match day squad for Gabriel Paulista. Brazilian centre-back Gabriel has been heavily linked with a move to Arsenal and his absence from the squad would suggest that a potential £12.5million pound deal could go ahead at anytime next week; with the clubs reportedly close to agreeing a fee.
Levante have several players missing themselves with David Navarro and Simao are suspended and Juanfran looks likely to miss out with gastroenteritis as the visitors look to improve on their recent results.
Current form suggests Villarreal are strong favourites to win this one. Their current run of form has been very impressive and with Levante's results being so poor lately anything other than a home win would be a surprise. However, Cheryshev's absence will be a huge blow to Marcelino's side and Levante will take confidence from that and will believe they can take something from the game.
Possible Starting Line-ups:
Villarreal: Asenjo, Mario, Ruiz, Musacchio, Costa, Jonathan, Bruno, Trigueros, Gomez, Vietto and Uche.
Levante: Marino, Lopez, El Adoua, Vyntra, Karabelas, Sissoko, Camarasa, Ivanschitz, Morales, Casadesus and Barral.