Real Betis v Villarreal

Real Betis vs Villarreal Preview

Real Betis' European hopes took a dent in last weekend's 2-1 defeat away from home at Atletico Madrid but Manuel Pellegrini's side return to the more familiar surroundings of their Estadio Benito Villamarín for Sunday evening's clash against mid-table Villarreal where the hosts will be looking to return to the kind of form which saw the hosts pick up three wins within their preceding five games, while Villarreal moved up into 12th place in the La Liga standings thanks to a comprehensive 5-1 home win against Granada.

Real Betis had previously picked up important wins against Mallorca, Cadiz and Athletic Bilbao, the latter being a 3-1 home win against the fifth placed club so Sunday's hosts will still feel confident about returning to winning ways when they welcome Villarreal to their Estadio Benito Villamarín.

Home form in particular has been solid and steady where Real Betis have been concerned as the hosts have been handed just one defeat all season on home soil while picking up seven wins and six draws and although their one loss was to Barcelona, Pellegrini's side have more than held their own once again in the domestic top flight and a European spot is now well within their grasp.

Villarreal continue to slowly but steadily climb up the La Liga table as the visitors recorded an emphatic 5-1 home win against Granada last weekend which extended Marcelino's side's unbeaten run in the domestic top flight to a solid looking seven games overall.

Within this unbeaten sequence, Villarreal have posted important wins against the likes of Barcelona 5-3 away from home, Real Sociedad and the aforementioned Granada so the visitors certainly carry a legitimate threat, not least on their travels.

However, Villarreal have struggled for consistency and more importantly, stringing together any sort of meaningful winning stretch as their best period of results has happened in their last two games where they've registered wins against Real Sociedad and Granada.

Results away from home have been fairly ordinary and inconsistent so far this season too, and this is underlined by the fact that Villarreal have won just twice in their last eight outings on the road, being handed four defeats in the process.

Losses on the road at Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid, Valencia and Las Palmas suggests Villarreal could well come up short against a solid looking Real Betis outfit this Sunday, especially as Real Betis have kept seven clean sheets in their 14 home games to date.

Real Betis v Villarreal Verdict

Real Betis are unbeaten in their last three encounters against Villarreal and having won twice within these last three meetings, Real Betis look the favourites for the three points in this one too.

Therefore, our main bet will be Real Betis win @ 2.05

Other side bets worth considering:

Real Betis win & Under 2.5 goals @ 5.00

Correct Score: Real Betis 2-0 @ 11.00