La Liga preview and odds: Villarreal vs Las Palmas

Published on: 05/03/2016

La Liga preview and odds: Villarreal vs Las Palmas

March 05, 2016 18:15pm - Camp El Madrigal

La Liga

Villarreal will continue their quest to break into the top-three of La Liga this weekend when they welcome relegation battlers Las Palmas to El Madrigal.

Villarreal chasing top-three finish

With 11 games left to play, Villarreal are still hanging on to the coat tails of third-ranked Real Madrid in La Liga. A win this weekend would keep the pressure on their rivals as they go in search a place in the group stages of next seasons Champions League.

The Yellow Submarine are currently sitting in fourth place with an 11 -point cushion between themselves and fifth-ranked Sevilla. With such a comfortable margin, they should at least make it to the qualifying stages of next season`s elite European competition.

In their last game, they played out a goalless draw away to Celta de Vigo. This week they host a Las Palmas side that won away in the La Liga for the first time in 15 years two weeks ago.

Las Palmas out of the drop zone

When Quique Setien arrived at Las Palmas back in October, the team had one just one of their eight games in La Liga. Since then, they have won six out of 19 league matches and shown significant signs of improvement. Over the last six games, they have the ninth-best form in the league.

More significantly, the former Lugo boss recently led the Canary Islanders to their first La Liga away win on the Spanish mainland since January 2001 - a run stretching back 42 games.

They followed up their 1-0 win at Eibar with a 4-0 demolition of Getafe on home soil. As a result, they have risen out of the bottom three and currently reside in 15th place in the table.

Team news

Marcelino will be without the services of Mateo Musacchio, Jaume Costa, Jonathan dos Santos and Samu Garcia.

Meanwhile, the visitors have Wakaso Mubarak, Nauzet Aleman, Hernan, Dani Castellano, Vicente Gomez and Javi Castellano all on the sidelines.

Recent form (League)

Villarreal: DWDWD

Las Palmas: WWLLL

Betting odds and tips

The home side have not conceded a league goal at home in the last seven matches, and they have lost just one of their 14 home games this season, having won 11 and drawn the other two.

You can back the Home Win to Nil at 7/5 with Bet365

Published on: 05/03/2016

Any odds displayed within this preview were correct at the time of publishing (05/03/2016 12:02:11) but are subject to change.