On August 17, 2021, Villarreal will face Granada at home in the first round of La Liga.
Villarreal
Villarreal’s performance in the last two seasons has improved significantly. The team got the 7th place in the league last season, especially the performance of the attacking end, only behind Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid and Barcelona La Liga giants.
Villarreal made a lot of moves in the summer window in terms of reinforcements.
They brought in striker Burayi Dia from Reims to further increase the strength of the attacking end, while in defense, they brought in Foyth (Tottenham Hotspur) and Esa Mandi (Real Betis), etc.
The Yellow Submarine is currently playing a 442 formation, building their midfield around Pajojo, Gomez, Evora and Trigueros.
Villarreal played 7 warm-up matches after winning the UEFA Europa League, but the results were not good, only getting 4 draws and 3 losses.
In the Super Cup match on August 12, the Yellow Submarine played against the blues Chelsea, and was very passive on the field, with only 38% of possession. After falling behind in the score, they barely managed to draw 1-1 in 90 minutes of regular time thanks to Moreno’s goal. The match eventually dragged on to a penalty shootout, and the Yellow Submarine missed the chance to win the cup with a 5-6 defeat.
Granada
Granada has been promoted to La Liga for two seasons, and as a new team, the overall performance of the team is very impressive.
The team finished last season with a 9th place finish. In terms of statistics, the team scored 47 goals in attack, which is a moderate performance. The defensive side conceded 65 goals, the most in La Liga last season, which shows how bad the back line is.
The team brought in defender Abram from Sarsfield in the summer to strengthen the defensive side.
Granada was also very active in preparing for the off-season, playing 6 warm-up matches, with 4 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss.
Although the results looked good, the opponents were mostly lower-ranked teams, and the wins did not carry enough weight. Five of the matches were conceded, which shows that the team still has a lot of holes in the defense.
It is worth noting that Granada’s ability to play on the road is not good. Last season, the team ranked 15th in the league and conceded 40 goals on the road.
Comprehensive Analysis
In the past meetings between the two teams, Villarreal has won 6 and drawn 4 of the last 10 matches against Granada, and has the advantage of the past record.
As for the recent situation, Villarreal is not optimistic, the team has not won many matches.
From a general point of view, Villarreal is still expected to get all 3 points in the first match of the season.
Prediction one：Villarreal-0.25@1.422
Prediction two：Total Goals– over2.5@1.857（Promo Code：1x_486072）
Perhaps you would be interested in sharing another of our La Liga matches：
Elche vs Athletic Bilbao：La Liga Match Preview,Tips and Predictions(16/08/2021)
