Real Betis vs Villarreal 02/07/20

2 July 2020

Real Betis welcome Villarreal to the Estadio Benito Villamarín for what might be a tight La Liga contest. Indeed, all five of their previous top-flight H2Hs held at this venue have ended separating the teams by under 1.5 goals.

The Estadio Benito Villamarín has been a stadium of entertainment this season, with 12 of Betis’ 16 La Liga fixtures held here seeing over 2.5 goals and both teams on the scoresheet. In fact, free-scoring Betis have found the net in every single league home match this season, bagging over 1.5 goals on 11 of those occasions. But, slow starts have seen the Andalusian side concede the opening goal in 62.5% of La Liga home fixtures (10/16). Still, Los Verdiblancos have rescued more points than any other Spanish team this term (13), losing only three of ten league home games in which they’ve shipped the first goal (W3, D4).

Meanwhile, the visitors have turned their fortunes around since the league’s restart, going from three consecutive La Liga defeats to five straight matches without a loss (W4, D1). Interestingly, all four of Villarreal’s league victories in the post-pandemic period produced a clean sheet, with three yielding the identical 1-0 scoreline. The Yellow Submarine are used to tight affairs, given that 12 of their 15 La Liga away results (win/loss) this campaign have ended separating the sides by a full-time margin of one goal. Scoring the opening goal will be of the essence for Villarreal’s hopes of picking up three points here, considering they lost five of seven La Liga road trips in which they’ve conceded the opener (W1, D1).