Will Barça get their first away win under Xavi?
In Xavi’s third game as FC Barcelona’s new coach, the Catalans have to play away for the first time. And it’s not an easy task for the struggling Barça on matchday 15 of La Liga, as Xavi’s side host Villarreal CF at the Estadio de la Ceramica on Saturday night (9pm).
While Villarreal themselves have struggled more than Barça this season, the Yellow Submarine have won all of their league matches at home. And Barça itself is still waiting for its first away win this season. Therefore, it is not surprising that the odds are almost completely even on Villarreal vs. Barcelona.
You can expect a very close game, a favourite can truly not be identified in advance. After all, this brings interesting betting odds on the various tips and match outcomes in the Villarreal vs. Barcelona match.
Villarreal – Statistics & current form
Barcelona’s 7th place in the table is already disappointing, but Villarreal have made an even weaker start to the new season. A third of the season is over and Villarreal are only in a weak 12th place.
Coach Unai Emery’s team has struggled to score goals and therefore to win. The yellow submarine has only scored 15 goals in 13 games. Of course, this is also due to the fact that top striker Gerard Moreno, who scored 23 goals last season, has been out for weeks with a torn muscle bundle.
Villarreal: few goals, many draws
Villarreal have failed to score in five of their 13 games this season, with only three meagre wins to their name. However, there have also only been three defeats, which shows that Villarreal are nevertheless difficult to break down. With seven draws, Emery’s men are the draw kings of La Liga, along with Levante and Athletic Bilbao.
Like Barça, Villarreal are plagued by an inexplicable weakness away from home, with no wins and five draws away from home. Emery’s team has won all three of its matches this season at home in the Estadio de la Ceramica. Villarreal have only lost one game at home, so it makes sense to bet on the next draw at Villarreal vs Barcelona.
Also because Villarreal feels comfortable against top teams. They have already earned points against Atletico Madrid (2:2 at the Wanda Metropolitano) and Real Madrid (0:0 at the Santiago Bernabeu).
Those who believe that the home side will also manage this against Barça should place their predictions at odds of 3.50 on the draw at Villarreal vs. Barcelona.
Predicted Villarreal line-up:
Rulli – Foyth, Albiol, Torres, Pedraza – Parejo, Capoue, Trigueros, Chukwueze, Danjuma – Dia
Last matches played by Villarreal:
Champions League Grp. F
11/23 2021 – Villarreal FC 0 – 2 Manchester United
LaLiga
11/20 2021 Celta Vigo 1 – 1 Villarreal FC
11/07 2021 – Villarreal FC 1 – 0 Getafe
Champions League Grp. F
11/02 2021 – FC Villarreal 2 – 0 BSC Young Boys
10/30 2021 – Valencia 2 – 0 FC Villarreal
Barcelona – Statistics & current form
The draw tip is also obvious because Barça are so weak away from home. Just like Villarreal, the Catalans have not yet won a single away game. They came really close on matchday 13 before the international break, when they led Celta Vigo 3:0 at the break but conceded the bitter 3:3 in the 95th minute.
Under new coach Xavi, the first win away from home should finally come this weekend, but that the new saviour cannot completely transform the team and lead it back to its old strength was evident in his first two games on the sidelines.
In Xavi’s debut, there was an important 1-0 victory in the city derby against Espanyol last weekend, but it was a very fortunate one – a flattering penalty and two missed chances by Espanyol paved the way for the narrow derby victory.
Barça’s inexplicable away weakness: Will they get their first away win under Xavi?
A few days later, Xavi’s eleven could not get beyond a sobering 0-0 draw against Benfica Lisbon in the Champions League. In both games, Barça’s typical superiority on the field, including a secure passing game, was evident, but so was the team’s great weakness this season: scoring goals. Barça have scored 20 times in 13 games in La Liga, and if you include the Champions League, they have only scored 22 times in 18 competitive games – an enormously weak figure for the otherwise so forward and goal-scoring Blaugrana.
Barça have only scored four goals away from home, three of which came in the last away game at Celta Vigo, which ended 3-3.
In view of this, you might want to consider betting on under 2.5 goals for Villarreal vs. Barcelona, especially as the odds here are over 2.00.
Predicted line-up of Barcelona:
Ter Stegen – Dest, Piqué, Garcia, Alba – Busquets, De Jong, Gonzalez – Akhomach, Memphis, Abde
Last matches played by Barcelona:
Champions League Grp. E
11/23 2021 – Barcelona 0 – 0 Benfica
LaLiga
11/20 2021 – Barcelona 1 – 0 Espanyol
11/06 2021 – Celta Vigo 3 – 3 Barcelona
Champions League Grp. E
11/02 2021 – Dynamo Kiev 0 – 1 Barcelona
LaLiga – 10/30 2021 Barcelona 1 – 1 Deportivo Alaves
Villarreal – Barcelona Tip
Will Xavi’s side get their first win away from home in their first away game? The task of winning their first away game will be anything but easy at Champions League contender Villarreal, even though the Yellow Submarine has had an even more disappointing season than Barça so far.
With both teams struggling to score goals this season, and with Villarreal missing Gerard Moreno and Barça missing Ansu Fati and Sergio Agüero, we don’t expect many goals.
It should be extremely close for this very reason, in the end the prediction on the Barça victory in Villarreal vs. Barcelona can be very profitable, which is why we bet on a narrow victory for the visitors.
