Marseille hold a healthy advantage as they travel to Villarreal for their Europa League round of 16 second leg. With the Spanish side desperate to overturn a huge deficit, they could leave themselves open at the back, which means a high scoring encounter could be expected.
Villarreal have a major deficit to overturn on Thursday after suffering a 4-0 defeat in the first leg against Marseille. They were already three goals down at halftime and finished the game without a single attempt on target.
That result is the only black spot in a run of good results for Villarreal, who are unbeaten in eight of their last nine matches across all competitions. They have won three of the last four matches in that run, including a 3-2 victory over Real Betis in a La Liga fixture last weekend.
Villarreal will be counting on home form on Thursday having lost just once in their last nine matches at the Estadio de la Ceramica. Marcelino’s men claimed a 5-1 victory in their previous fixture in front of their fans.
Marseille were rampant in the first leg as they ran out 5-0 winners at orange Velodrome. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang netted a brace after a Jordan Veretout opener and an own-goal from Yerson Mosquera.
That result is in keeping with Marseille’s recent good form as they have won their last five matches across all competitions. They picked up a 2-0 victory over Nantes in a Ligue 1 fixture last weekend with Aubameyang netting another brace.
Marseille have not been good travellers lately, with just one win from their last five away matches across all competitions. However that victory came in their previous fixture on the road as Jean-Louis Gasset’s men thrashed Clermont 5-1.
How the bookies view it
Villarreal have the upper hand among the bookies with a home win priced at 5/4 by William Hill. A victory for Marseille is valued at 19/10 by bet365 while a draw is set at odds of 14/5 by Coral.
Head to head
Marseille remain unbeaten against Villarreal, with two wins and a draw from three previous meetings. The French side claimed a 4-0 victory in last week’s first leg.
Players to watch
Villarreal may have fired blanks last week but they do have some quality in attack. Alexander Sorloth will be keen to set things right on Thursday and having found the net five times in the last four matches, could be backed to maintain his scoring run at 11/5 with Unibet.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang netted a brace in the first leg and will be the one to watch for Marseille. The striker has eight goals in his last five matches and is priced at 8/5 by bet365 to find the net on Thursday.
Anything else catch the eye?
Given the attacking quality on both sides, goals could be expected on Thursday. Villarreal have seen over 4.5 goals in two of their last three matches and a repeat is priced at 3/1 by BoyleSports while BetVictor is offering 13/10 for over 3.5 goals.
Marseille have opened the scoring in their last three matches and could be backed to grab the first goal on Thursday at 11/10 with bet365.
This UEFA Europa League match between Villarreal and Marseille will be played on Mar 14, 2024 and kick off at 17:45. Check below for our tipsters best Villarreal vs Marseille prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
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