Barcelona continue their march towards the La Liga title as they travel to Villarreal for a Sunday night fixture. Villarreal have been out of sorts in recent weeks and given their poor record in this fixture, the Catalans will be confident of coming out on top.
Villarreal's quest for a Champions League finish has taken a hit in recent weeks as they head into Sunday’s clash with just one win from their last five matches across all competitions. They are not out of the running yet but are currently five points off the pace.
Quique Setien’s side suffered a 3-1 defeat at Elche last time out with Gérard Moreno getting a consolation. That was their second straight La Liga defeat following a 1-0 home loss to Rayo Vallecano in their previous fixture.
While things are slightly better at the Estadio de la Ceramica, Villarreal are still slightly erratic in front of their fans as evidenced by the defeat to Rayo Vallecano. Among their other home defeats is a 3-2 loss Copa Del Rey loss to Real Madrid while they were also beaten 2-0 by Mallorca.
Having opened up an eight-point gap at the top of the table, the task for Barcelona will be to consolidate their lead. They have looked almost unstoppable in recent weeks with their last La Liga defeat, a 3-0 loss to Real Madrid in October.
Barcelona are currently on a five-match winning run in La Liga and claimed a 3-0 victory over Sevilla in their previous fixture. After a frustrating first Half, Jordi Alba opened the scoring while Gavi and Raphinha were also on target.
The Catalans have also been impressive on their travels this season with the loss at Real Madrid their only away defeat so far. Xavi’s men have won their last five La Liga fixtures on the road, conceding just one goal in that run.
How the bookies view it
Barcelona have the upper hand among the bookies and are priced at 5/6 by bet365 to claim the win. A victory for Villarreal is valued at 33/10 by SBK while a draw is set at odds of 3/1 by bet365.
Head to head
Barcelona have a 30-9 advantage with 10 draws from 49 previous matches with Villarreal. The Catalans have also won six of the last seven meetings and claimed a 3-0 victory in the reverse fixture with Robert Lewandowski netting a brace.
Players to watch
Raphinha appears to be finally settling at Barcelona and having scored in his last two matches, could be tipped to find the net at 10/3 with bet365. However, top scorer Lewandowski could be a safer option with Betfred offering 21/20 on the striker adding to his 14 La Liga goals.
While Barcelona have maintained their traditional attacking philosophy, they have also developed a defensive steel this season with Andreas Christensen particularly impressive. It was a shutout in the reverse fixture and the Catalans could be set for another clean sheet at 19/10 with Coral.
Anything else catch the eye?
Barcelona have won to nil in four of their last five away matches in La Liga and could be set for a repeat at 5/2 with Coral. Having claimed a 3-0 victory in the reverse fixture, the Catalans could also be tipped in the -1 handicap market at 9/4 with Paddy Power.
With a comfortable victory expected, Barcelona could be tipped to score in both halves at 8/5 with Betfred.
This La Liga match between Villarreal and Barcelona will be played on Feb 12, 2023 and kick off at 20:00. Check below for our tipsters best Villarreal vs Barcelona prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
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