Villarreal vs Real Sociedad 14/07/20

14 July 2020

Villarreal and Real Sociedad come face-to-face at the Estadio de la Ceramica in a potentially high-scoring La Liga contest. Indeed, each of their last three top-flight H2Hs held at this stadium has featured over 2.5 goals and both teams scoring.

Four of Villarreal’s last La Liga fixtures (W3, L1) have seen the winner on the day score at least two goals in one half and prevail by a full-time margin of over 1.5 goals. At home in La Liga, just one of Villarreal’s previous nine games has ended in a draw (W5, L3), with seven of those results (win/loss) seeing the victorious team open the scoring before the break. Also, quick-fire ‘Yellow Submarine’ have netted the opening goal (if any) in 12 of 17 La Liga home outings this term (70.59%), which makes them the division’s fourth-fastest home starters. But, their home action usually sparks into life in the second half, with 63.64% of the league goals scored/conceded at this venue this season coming after the break (35/55).

On the other hand, the visitors seem to have lost their rhythm since the resumption of football last month, sustaining five defeats in eight La Liga matches since June (W1, D2). Curiously, though, eight of Sociedad’s previous nine league results have yielded a narrow one-goal margin, with half of them (four) producing the identical 2-1 scoreline. Also, Imanol Alguacil’s men have struggled to impress away from home in 2020, losing five of seven La Liga trips since the turn of the year (W1, D1). That’s mainly thanks to a lack of goals. Real have scored under 1.5 goals in six of those seven fixtures, with three of the five goals they scored across those clashes coming inside the opening 20 minutes of play.