Football Results

Even though the point difference between Villarreal and Atletico is 20 points, this is the most interesting match of the round, because the hosts are at sixth place and are struggling for placement in Europa League, while Atletico is second and they want to at least keep that position if they cannot reach Barcelona yet. The hosts cannot exactly boost with some very good form and they rarely win, while they were eliminated from Europa League where Atletico routinely reached the quarterfinals and the only defeat they have experienced recently was in the derby by Barcelona. In the first part of the season these rivals played 1-1.

Villarreal

Villarreal lacks the continuity of good games and the results and they were therefore eliminated from the fight for at least the fourth position which leads to the Champions League, so they still have to choose at least qualify for Europa League where they played this season, but only till the sixteen finals when they were two times defeated by Lyon and were thus eliminated. They were hoping to play better in the championship afterwards, however, they defeated Getafe and then again suffered two defeats by their weakest rivals, Eibar and Girona.

Particularly painful was that defeat by Girona on their field with 2-0, but they improved it a little bit with a triumph against Las Palmas in the last round. Mario was absent in the last round because of the suspension, and Castillejo remained on the bench. Now Mario is sure to return and probably the recovered Sansone will be at the top of the attack and Ruiz at the center-back.

Probable lineups Villarreal: Asenjo – Mario, A.Gonzalez, V,Ruiz, J.Costa – Rodri, Trigueros, Fornals, R.Soriano – N.Sansone, Bacca

Atletico Madrid

Atletico is holding a second position and that is a very good placement, although they certainly regret that they did not use the advantage of the opportunity and become involved in the fight for the title. They played away against the leading Barcelona but they were a little nervous and eventually left without anything. They certainly want to keep the second place, because they are accompanied by their angry city rival Real and that is why this difficult hosting is very important, even though they had to play the rematch in Europa League on Thursday. But they have already mastered the Russian Lokomotiv in the first match on their field with 3-0, so they did not have too big of a problem in the second match.

They celebrated even more convincingly the second time (5-1) in a changed composition. There was no need to use the first star of the team, Griezmann, Oblak also has not been on the goal, while Costa has no right to perform in Europa League. That is why he and Griezmann will be on the field at the top of the attack, as well as Oblak on the goal, while Vrsaljko and probably Vitolo and Hernandez will jump in.

Probable lineups Atletico Madrid: Oblak – Vrsaljko, Godin, Gimenez, L.Hernandez – Gabi, Saul Niguez, Vitolo, Koke – D.Costa, Griezmann

Verdict:

Villarreal does not play very well, but we can never be certain about this team, because they can always shine. We think they will play as much as Atletico allows them. In that case there will not be a lot of fluidity and we forecast a hard match with a small number of goals.

Pick:  under 2.5 goals 1.64 - 64/100 @1XBet