Two of Spain’s in form sides will pitted against each other on Thursday night when Villarreal will host Sevilla at the Estadio El Madrigal in a bid to reach the last eight of the Europa League.
Villarreal have been excellent so far this season losing only four matches in the last 28 games in all competitions with three against Barcelona and just the one to FC Zurich in the competition group stages. That loss to Zurich was the only defeat against them in the whole competition with two draws against group winners Borussia Monchengladbach sandwiching their three wins, they reached this stage of the competition with convincing 2-1 and 3-1 victories over Salzburg.
Sevilla have been equally impressive this season and kept up their pursuit of a coveted Champions League spot with a nervy 4-3 victory over Deportivo La Coruna at the weekend. Unai Emery’s side can be confident going into this beating Monchengladbach in two legs in the last round and they have also won three of the last six meetings against Villarreal, however their away form has not boded them well in the competition winning just the one in four games.
Villarreal have a significant number of absentees with; Bojan Jokic, Adrian Marin, Eric Bailly and Bruno all out through injury, Tomas Pina will also be missing through suspension. Giovani dos Santos and Jonathan Pereira are both doubts and are unlikely to be risked from the beginning.
Sevilla goalkeeper Sergio Rico conceded three goals at the weekend but is likely to keep his place between the sticks as Beto remains on the side-lines, Beto is joined on the injury list by Iago Aspas and Daniel Carrico but apart from these trio of injuries Emery has no further concerns in regards to his squad.