With their 17 point advantage in the league table, Villarreal fans are hoping to see their team collect maximum points from this game against Espanyol.
Both teams should be fairly well rested for this game, as they have had some quiet days to prepare. Hopefully this will translate into lots of action on the pitch.
Villarreal form and stats
The story so far in the La Liga for Villarreal at their home stadium (Estadio de la Ceramica) is 4 wins, 4 draws and 1 defeat.
Happy days for Villarreal in their previous game, a Copa Del Rey match away at Orihuela that ended with a 2-1 victory. In the game before, an away victory in the La Liga match versus Real Sociedad with a 2-1 scoreline.
The hosts are favourites to win this game, with an estimated chance of about 55-60% of that outcome. Earlier Villarreal matches with similar probabilities have ended with 3 wins, 0 draws and 3 defeats (from six games).
There's a new game coming up fairly quickly for Villarreal as they are travelling to their away game against Girona in the Copa Del Rey. That match is three days after this one.
Villarreal can score goals in their home matches. After 9 league matches they have found the net 19 times. Villarreal's goalkeeper has had to pick the ball out of their own net 11 times. For more goal stats, check the Statistics tab above.
Espanyol form and stats
The hunting on away grounds haven’t been very fruitful for Espanyol, who have the most conceded goals (36) in La Liga, so far with only 8 points returning home. The records show 2-2-5 (win-draw-lose). Bitter travels for Espanyol as they have lost four games in a row away from home. The last time they avoided an away-from-home loss was the Levante match.
Two travels in a row for Espanyol, whose manager A. Fernández Antuña could celebrate last time after the Copa Del Rey win against SS Reyes. Ahead of that game was the 2-2 draw at home against Barcelona in the La Liga.
Looking at the earlier recent performances of Espanyol when being an outsider away as they are today, we find four matches with the visitors losing 1 time, drawing 3 and winning 0 games.
The visitors will be packing their bags again in only three days as another away game awaits: The Copa Del Rey trip to Real Sociedad.
The attacking power of Espanyol when travelling is not overwhelming with 5 goals scored from 9 league matches away. Defensive performances away have varied in quality as Espanyol have conceded 14 goals on the road. For more goal statistics, check out the Statistics tab above.
Head 2 Head
This is not the first time this season these parties meet, as the history books show this recent fixture: Espanyol - Villarreal 0-1. Head-2-head stats last ten meetings: 2 - 6 - 2 (Villarreal wins - draws - Espanyol wins). As for goals, 5 matches ended with three or more goals (over 2,5), 5 had two or less.Top Goalscorers
  G. Moreno Balaguero 8 goals |  S. Cazorla González 6 goals |  K. Toko Ekambi 6 goals |
Villarreal missing players
Espanyol missing players
| Villarreal | Espanyol | ||||||
| Total | Home | vs | Statistics | Stat | vs | Away | Total |
| 19 | 9 | 3 | Played | P | 2 | 9 | 19 |
| 8 | 4 | 2 | Won | W | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| 4 | 4 | 0 | Drew | D | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| 7 | 1 | 1 | Lost | L | 1 | 5 | 12 |
| 33 | 19 | 7 | Scored | S | 1 | 5 | 14 |
| 26 | 11 | 4 | Conceded | C | 3 | 14 | 36 |
| 89% | 78% | 100% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 100% | 89% | 95% |
| 79% | 67% | 100% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 50% | 78% | 84% |
| 74% | 56% | 67% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 50% | 33% | 47% |
| 32% | 56% | 67% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 0% | 11% | 26% |
| 16% | 33% | 33% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 0% | 0% | 5% |
| 68% | 56% | 67% | BTTS | BTTS | 0% | 33% | 47% |
| 32% | 44% | 33% | Clean Sheets | C S | 50% | 22% | 11% |
| 11% | 22% | 0% | Failed to Score | F T | 50% | 56% | 47% |
| 4.5 | 4.9 | 5.7 | Corners For (avg) | C F | 6 | 4.1 | 4.7 |
| 6.8 | 6.3 | 4.7 | Corners Against (avg) | C A | 3 | 4.3 | 4.4 |
| 2 | 2.1 | 2.3 | Yellow Cards (avg) | Y C | 2 | 3.1 | 2.5 |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | Red Cards | R C | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 273 | 133 | 55 | Total Shots | T S | 26 | 82 | 215 |
| 86 | 47 | 15 | Shots on Target | S O | 9 | 22 | 60 |
| 38% | 40% | 47% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 11% | 23% | 23% |
- Espanyol has the fewest scored goals (14)
- Espanyol has the fewest scored goals (5) away
- Espanyol has the most conceded goals (36)
- Espanyol has the most conceded goals in the second half (22)
- Espanyol has the the worst goal difference (-22)
- Espanyol have conceded at least twice as many goals as they have scored.
- Villarreal have scored more than double the goals of Espanyol.
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | Barcelona | 19 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 49 | 23 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 34 | 10 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 15 | 13 | 26 | 40 |
| 2 | Real Madrid | 19 | 11 | 7 | 1 | 36 | 12 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 20 | 6 | 10 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 16 | 6 | 24 | 40 |
| 3 | Atletico Madrid | 19 | 9 | 8 | 2 | 22 | 12 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 14 | 6 | 9 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 8 | 6 | 10 | 35 |
| 4 | Sevilla | 19 | 10 | 5 | 4 | 24 | 18 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 11 | 8 | 10 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 13 | 10 | 6 | 35 |
| 5 | Real Sociedad | 19 | 9 | 4 | 6 | 33 | 25 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 18 | 11 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 15 | 14 | 8 | 31 |
| 6 | Valencia | 19 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 29 | 25 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 16 | 9 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 13 | 16 | 4 | 31 |
| 7 | Getafe | 19 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 26 | 20 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 17 | 10 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 10 | 6 | 30 |
| 8 | Athletic Club | 19 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 20 | 13 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 3 | 10 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 7 | 29 |
| 9 | Villarreal | 19 | 8 | 4 | 7 | 33 | 26 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 19 | 11 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 14 | 15 | 7 | 28 |
| 10 | Granada | 19 | 8 | 3 | 8 | 25 | 25 | 10 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 6 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 13 | 19 | 0 | 27 |
| 11 | Levante | 19 | 8 | 2 | 9 | 26 | 29 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 15 | 10 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 11 | 19 | -3 | 26 |
| 12 | Osasuna | 19 | 5 | 9 | 5 | 26 | 25 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 16 | 13 | 10 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 10 | 12 | 1 | 24 |
| 13 | Real Betis | 19 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 26 | 32 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 17 | 14 | 9 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 9 | 18 | -6 | 24 |
| 14 | Real Valladolid | 19 | 4 | 9 | 6 | 17 | 23 | 9 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 17 | -6 | 21 |
| 15 | Deportivo Alaves | 19 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 20 | 29 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 12 | 6 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 23 | -9 | 20 |
| 16 | Eibar | 19 | 5 | 4 | 10 | 18 | 29 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 11 | 15 | 10 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 14 | -11 | 19 |
| 17 | Celta de Vigo | 19 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 16 | 29 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 9 | 18 | -13 | 15 |
| 18 | Mallorca | 19 | 4 | 3 | 12 | 18 | 33 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 7 | 22 | -15 | 15 |
| 19 | Leganes | 19 | 3 | 5 | 11 | 16 | 30 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 10 | 14 | 9 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 16 | -14 | 14 |
| 20 | Espanyol | 19 | 2 | 5 | 12 | 14 | 36 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 9 | 22 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 14 | -22 | 11 |