Sports Mole previews Saturday’s La Liga clash between Valencia and Villarreal, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Villarreal will be bidding to return to winning ways on Saturday night when they head to Mestalla to tackle Valencia.
The visitors are currently third in the La Liga table, boasting 17 points from their opening nine matches of the campaign, while Los Che are 14th, picking up only nine points from their first nine games of 2025-26.
Match preview
Valencia have a record of two wins, three draws and four defeats from their nine La Liga matches this season, with a total of nine points leaving them in 14th, only three points above the relegation zone.
Los Che’s two league wins this season have been at home, overcoming Getafe and Athletic Bilbao, but they were stunned by Real Oviedo at their own stadium at the end of September, going down 2-1 to their 10-man opponents.
Carlos Corberan‘s side have only managed to pick up two points from their last four matches, but they did manage to claim a point in a goalless draw with Alaves last time out after successive defeats.
Valencia finished 12th in La Liga last season, so there is plenty of room for improvement this term, but it has been an underwhelming start to the campaign for the six-time Spanish champions.
Los Che held Villarreal to 1-1 draws in both league matches between the two teams last term, but they have not managed to overcome the Yellow Submarine since a 3-1 home success in January 2024.
Villarreal have only lost one of their last seven La Liga matches against Valencia, and they will be bidding to return to winning ways on Saturday evening, having gone four games without a victory in all competitions.
Marcelino‘s side were in Champions League action on Tuesday evening, suffering a 2-0 home loss to Manchester City, while they have picked up just one point from their last two league games, losing at Real Madrid before playing out a 2-2 draw with Real Betis last time out in Spain’s top flight.
The Yellow Submarine have a record of five wins, two draws and two defeats in La Liga this season, with 17 points leaving them in third spot in the table, five points behind second-placed Barcelona.
Villarreal will be expecting to challenge for a top-four spot this term, and their home form in 2025-26 has been excellent, picking up 13 points from five matches, boasting a goal difference of plus nine.
However, Marcelino’s side have only managed to win one of their four league games on their travels, and they will need to address their away form in order to keep themselves inside the top four this term.
Valencia La Liga form:
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Villarreal La Liga form:
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Villarreal form (all competitions):
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Team News
Valencia will be without the services of Mouctar Diakhaby and Largie Ramazani on Saturday, while late checks need to be made on the fitness of Filip Ugrinic and Dimitri Foulquier.
There are not expected to be any real surprises in the Valencia XI this weekend, with Javi Guerra set to be joined by Pepelu in the middle of the home side’s midfield.
Hugo Duro and Arnaut Danjuma have scored six times between them in La Liga this season, and the pair will continue in the final third of the field on Saturday night.
As for Villarreal, Logan Costa, Willy Kambwala and Pau Cabanes are out of the match through injury.
The visitors have not reported any injury issues from their clash with Man City in the Champions League, but there will be changes on Saturday, with Ayoze Perez and Sergi Cardona both set to be introduced.
Tanitoluwa Oluwaseyi is also pushing for a start in the final third of the field, but Georges Mikautadze should keep his spot; Dani Parejo is likely to be introduced to freshen up the midfield.
Valencia possible starting lineup:
Agirrezabala; Correia, Tarrega, Copete, Gaya; Rioja, Pepelu, Guerra, Lopez; Duro, Danjuma
Villarreal possible starting lineup:
Tenas; Mourino, Veiga, Marin, Cardona; Akhomach, Parejo, Gueye, Moleiro; Mikautadze, Perez
We say: Valencia 1-2 Villarreal
Valencia will be the fresher of the two teams, with Villarreal in Champions League action during the week, while the Yellow Submarine have found it tough on their travels this term. However, we are backing the visitors to navigate their way to an important three points at Mestalla.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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