Mallorca v Villarreal

Mallorca vs Villarreal Preview

Mallorca started their season in reasonably solid fashion as they picked up a point in a 1-1 draw away from home at Las Palmas on the opening day of the new La Liga season last weekend, and this time around the hosts will be keen to secure a top seven finish after narrowly missing out at the end of the last campaign.

Mallorca produced an encouraging campaign last term though as the hosts achieved a top half finish in the Spanish top flight, finishing in a creditable ninth place where they ended up only three points shy of a top seven finish and European involvement.

The hosts' cause wasn't helped by the fact that they managed to capture just three wins from their final eight games of the season, each of which, incidentally, were gained in victories on home soil at their Estadi Mallorca Son Moix with wins against Cadiz, Valencia and Rayo Vallecano.

Mallorca were also handed four defeats within this period but all of these losses were incurred on their travels but form and results at home were certainly encouraging for Javier Aguirre's side as they suffered only the one defeat in their last 14 games, while the goals market looks appealing as 11 of these 14 home games also resulted in Under 2.5 goals being scored.

Villarreal were one of the sides that did finish in the top seven pack in last season's La Liga standings which earned the visitors a place in the forthcoming Europa League, finishing in fifth place but they were unable to shake off their disappointing finish to last term on the opening day of this new Spanish top flight season.

Villarreal lost 2-1 away from home at Rayo Vallecano and then ended the season with a 2-2 draw at home with Atletico Madrid but although they had the summer break to re-group, the visitors found themselves on the losing side once again in last weekend's opening fixture with Real Betis.

A 2-1 loss on home soil at their Estadio de la Cerámica saw Villarreal off to a poor start to this new term but they did produce some encouraging results on the road towards the end of last season.

Villarreal lost just twice in their final seven outings of last term whilst also picking up four wins in the process with victories at Almeria, Osasuna, Real Madrid and Girona, so they do stand a decent chance of nicking a narrow win on their travels here on Friday night.

Mallorca v Villarreal Verdict

Mallorca's home ground Estadi Mallorca Son Moix hasn't exactly been flowing with goals in recent times and another low-scoring encounter looks set to unfold here on Friday night with Villarreal perhaps looking the most likely for the three points.

Therefore, our main bet will be Under 2.5 goals @ 1.61

Other side bets worth considering:

Villarreal win @ 2.50

Correct score: Villarreal 2-0 @ 11.00