Alavés v Villarreal Betting Tips: Stick with the visitors at Mendizorrotza

After Sevilla dropped points on Sunday afternoon, Villarreal have a good opportunity to cut the gap between themselves and 4th place when they travel to take on an Alavés side who’ve already fulfilled their primary objective for the season on Monday night.

As they sit nicely in 12th place, a massive 18 points clear of the drop-zone, Alavés’ season is all but over at this point. The newly promoted side have performed with real credit this season and have booked their place in La Liga for another year. Although they have been a tough side to face this season, there has been plenty of evidence that they’ve taken their foot firmly off the gas in recent weeks with the Basque club losing each of their last three. Such a fact bodes well for a Villarreal team who’re still very much in the hunt for European football.

Given the circumstances, at the prices, backing the visitors to come out on top really is appealing. Villarreal have enjoyed a very solid campaign and, with their extra motivation, are fancied to secure all three points at Mendizorrotza.

Under the stewardship of Fran Escribá, Villarreal have slipped under the radar somewhat this season, but have certainly impressed, especially on the road. The Yellow Submarine play an attractive passing game and are tough to beat. The fact that they’ve lost just three times away from home is commendable, as is the fact that they’ve conceded just eight goals. Having conceded so few, Villarreal are currently the proud owners of La Liga’s best defensive record when playing on the road. With eight clean sheets to their name, including three in their last five, Escribá’s men have proved to be a very tough nut to crack – something that is particularly positive here since the hosts aren’t known for their scoring exploits.

Considering Alavés really do have nothing left to play for this season, it’s logical to assume that they won’t be going all out here, and they haven’t exactly set the world alight from a goal-scoring perspective this season anyway. With a measly 13 goals on their own patch, Mauricio Pellegrino’s side, as well as they have performed, have looked somewhat lacklustre in the final third for most of the campaign. They’ve also failed to score in each of their last three. Against a Villarreal rearguard that isn’t easily breached, it’s hard to hold out too much hope for the home side.

All in all, of the two teams it is Villarreal who come into this fixture with both momentum (having won two on the spin) and a goal to achieve. On this basis, the visitors are expected to get the job done and are worth backing to do so at odds of 8/5.

Monday’s Premier League tips can be found here.