Valencia and Villarreal meet this Tuesday, at the beginning of 2024, in a round that marks the end of the first round of the Spanish league.
At this point in the competition, both teams are placed in an intermediate zone, and the next results will determine where exactly they will fight until the end of the season.
Valencia
Valencia occupies tenth place with 23 points, but fighting at the top is somewhat complicated, as they are 8 points below Real Sociedad, sixth in the table.
Fighting for a place in next season’s continental leagues requires a regularity that the team has not yet demonstrated in the competition.
In the first 18 games they played, they had 6 wins, 5 draws and 7 defeats, with 19 goals scored and 22 goals conceded.
In the last round they achieved an important victory away from home, when they visited Rayo Vallecano and managed to build a score of one to zero.
Before this positive result, the team had been on a run of 5 games without winning in the competition.
But playing in parallel, the Copa del Rey has been a motivation for Valencia, who recently beat Arosa SC 1-0, away from home, and reached the round of 32 stage.
Playing at home in the Spanish league, the team has not lost in 4 games and in 3 of those matches they did not concede goals.
They usually play matches with a low goal average, due to a lack of proposition ability.
They scored just 19 in 18 games, and this is also a trend for the clash against Villarreal.
Villarreal
Villarreal is a little lower in the table, and their biggest concern is not getting closer to the relegation zone.
The team appears in 13th place with 19 points, today having a 6 advantage over Celta de Vigo, who opens the group of last placed teams.
Like Valencia, they are also coming off an important victory in the last round, when they beat Celta de Vigo 3-2 at home.
It is a team that plays games with busier scores, as it has a better offensive condition, having scored 26 goals, but a very fragile defense that has conceded 35 so far.
In 18 games, Villarreal has 5 wins, 4 draws and 9 defeats.
Villarreal has also been sharing its attention with the Europa League, where it has been having more success, and it really is its big bet for this season.
In the last match of the group stage, they beat Rennes 3-2 away from home, and secured their place in the playoffs, advancing directly to the round of 16.
As we can see, it really features more dynamic matches with busy scores, but I don’t believe this is a trend for this clash against Valencia.
Conclusion:
Due to the pragmatism of the home team, I believe that the line with fewer goals is a great betting option, and I understand that opting for a line favorable to any of these teams is perhaps a more dangerous market.