Villarreal vs Betis Prediction & Betting Tips (18 October)

Despite its presence in the Champions League, Villarreal manages to juggle perfectly and its 3rd place in La Liga is totally deserved. Even if the Yellow Submarine experienced a slight drop in performance during two matches against Atlético Madrid, a 2-0 defeat and Celta Vigo, a 1-1 draw, it perfectly returned to success against Osasuna 2-1, Sevilla 1-2 and Athletic Bilbao 1-0. Before the international break, the team led by Marcelino was, however, quite logically beaten by Real Madrid at the Bernabéu 3-1. In the Champions League, it is more difficult to exist for Villarreal, beaten by a goalkeeper blunder at Tottenham 1-0 and embarrassed by Juventus at home 2-2. Opposite, Betis Sevilla is juggling perfectly between the championship and La Liga, a bit like last season when the Andalusian club was able to reach the final of the Conference League lost against Chelsea and achieve a good top 6 in La Liga.

Fourth behind their evening opponent, Bétis will today defend a series of three successive victories in La Liga. Victories against Real Sociedad 3-1, Osasuna 2-0 and on the turf of Espanyol Barcelona just before the break 1-2 becoming the first to bring down the Pericos at home this season. Overall, the Verdiblancos are undefeated for six games in all competitions, including a success in C3 against Ludogorets in Bulgaria 0-2 and sharing points with Nottingham Forest 2-2. 

Receiving two yellows against Real Madrid, the starting right-back Mourino was logically excluded and will serve his suspension during this shock. As a reminder, the Cape Verdean international Logan Costa, the Tricolore Kambwala, Pau Cabanes, the holder Juan Foyth (Argentinian international) and the attackers Gerard Moreno and Ayoze Perez (Spanish international) are injured. The young talent Pau Navarro participates in the U20 World Cup with the Spanish selection. Currently, Marcelino's two best players are indeed the former Ligue 1 attackers: Nicolas Pepe (2 goals, 1 assist in La Liga) and the rookie Mikautadze (ex-Lyon, scorer against Juventus and Real Madrid). For his part, Manuel Pellegrini could be forced to leave certain players at home due to physical problems.

This is the case of midfielders Isco (fractured fibula), Sofyan Amrabat and rookie Deossa, without forgetting to mention Diego Llorente and central Marc Bartra, all missing during the trip to Espanyol Barcelona. Just like Pau Navarro, the young Pablo Garcia is participating in the U20 World Cup. Literally on fire, striker Cucho Hernandez has scored four times in his last five matches played with Bétis (replacing the entire match against Ludogorets).