High-flying Villarreal will hope to continue their fine form this weekend in La Liga action when they welcome in 16th placed Granada at Camp El Madrigal.   

The Yellow Submarines, with a win, could potentially tie Real Madrid on points once this weekend is over. However, they will not be able to pass Los Blancos in the standings as the capital club has a far greater goal differential. For Granada, snatching a point on the road would be good enough, but of course, a win would see them get a little further away from the drop zone.

Adrian is still out injured tearing his hamstring and Samu is sidelined with a broken toe for Villarreal. On the other side, only 18 year old Adalberto Peñaranda has a hamstring injury and will miss this clash for El Graná.

Form

Granada, while they are improving gradually, have still been a little inconsistent in league play. They have won two of their last five matches, against Sevilla and Getafe, but both of those were at home. What is stopping today’s visitors from climbing further up the table is their away form. Their three previous losses came against Las Plamas, Barcelona and Eibar. Two of those three losses could have become victories as they were against clubs at the same level.

Against Levante on the last match day, Granada stormed out of the gates, scoring two first half goals. Unfortunately, the visitors equalized in the second half, finding the back of the net twice in three minutes. But in the 77th minute, Ruben Rochina scored the match winning goal pushing his club above the relegation zone.

While 2015 was a good year for Villarreal, 2016 has not gotten off to the most ideal start. They won their opening two league matches before crashing out of the Copa Del Rey against Athletic Club. However, that poor cup form continued into their last two matches as two points were dropped in each. against Real Betis and Espanyol. 

Key Players

Youssef El-Arabi will be leading the visitors attack this weekend. He is the leading goal scorer, finding the back of the net five times – seven off the pace of his club record. El-Arabi is the veteran presence in the offensive part of the pitch as the other attackers are a couple of years younger and provides a bit of a spark.

Villarreal’s Cedric Bakambu is a force to be reckoned with in and around the 18 yard box. In his first year in Spain, Bakambu has scored eight goals in 13 league appearances (he was left on the bench five times). If this is only the beginning of the French-born striker, Cedric will be one of the premier strikers in the league.

Prediction

There is no two ways about this, Villarreal has too much quality about them to not get the victory in front of their own supporters. Granada will be in a defensive mind throughout the 90 minutes rarely venturing into the opponents final third unless it is on the counter.