Villarreal vs Alaves Prediction & Betting Tips (10 January)

3rd with 38 points, Villarreal must win today at home to pass the 40-point mark and come back to within 4 lengths of Real Madrid, runner-up to FC Barcelona. Last weekend, by beating Elche at the Martinez Valero 1-3, Villarreal became the 1st team to beat Elche at home this season and also bounced back from their pre-Christmas loss to Barcelona at home 0-2. Casually, Marcelino's men ended the year 2025 quite badly by losing against Barça, but also against Copenhagen in the Champions League 2-3 and in the 1/16th final of the Copa del Rey against Racing Santander 2-1. For their part, 13th-placed Alaves had a golden opportunity to return to La Liga success and get 2026 off to a strong start when they hosted Real Oviedo last weekend, but were ultimately forced to share the points 1-1.

Before Christmas, the Basques were corrected by Osasuna at El Sadar 3-0 defeat especially as they were already on a defeat before that against Real Madrid at home 1-2. With 19 points, at mid-season, Alaves is only 3 points ahead of the red zone and 9 points from the race for Europe Top 6. 

Excluded against Barcelona following a nasty tackle on Lamine Yamal, the central defender on loan from Chelsea, Renato Veiga will be eligible again for Marcelino. Also returns of Canadian winger Buchanan (5 goals in La Liga), suspended against Elche due to an accumulation of yellow cards. Selected to play the CAN with their respective nations, Akhomach (Morocco) and Pape Gueye (Senegal) will not play today following their participation in the quarter-finals of the African Cup of Nations. Long-term injured, central Logan Costa and Kambwala will once again be out, as will Pau Cabanes. Midfielders T.Fernandez and T.Partey are physically affected and could miss this meeting. Arriving from OL at the end of the transfer window last summer, G.Mikautadze is enjoying his time in La Liga with a total of 7 contributions (4 goals, 3 assists). He was a scorer in Elche, just like the excellent Moleiro (7 goals, 2 assists) and the full-back Pedraza. Not called up by Emerson Fae with Ivory Coast, Nicolas Pépé (ex-Lille) is at Marcelino's disposal.

Returning on time against Oviedo last weekend, Protesoni received two yellows transformed into red cards and therefore logically suspended today for this trip to Ceramica. Conversely, Victor Parada will return from suspension. Sidelined by the coach for several meetings now, M.Diarra and M.Diaz will probably be deprived of a group today as well. Defender Facundo Garces remains suspended by FIFA. Authors of 4 goals each in the championship, Carlos Vicente and Lucas Boyé are the main gunners of Alaves.  The probable line-ups for Villarreal - Deportivo Alaves: Villarreal: Junior - Mourino, Foyth, Veiga, Pedraza - Buchanan, Parejo, Comesana, Moleiro - Mikautadze, Perez. Deportivo Alaves: Sivera - Castro, Tenaglia, Pacheco, Parada - Vicente, Ibanez, Blanco, Rebbach - Martinez, Boyé.

• Summary: Villarreal is going head to head with Deportivo Alavés starting on 10 Jan 2026 at 15:15 UTC at Estadio de la Ceramica stadium, Villarreal city, Spain. The match is a part of the LaLiga .
• Villarreal Feedinco Rating: 6.92
• Alaves Feedinco Rating: 6.72