It’s been a rotten start to the La Liga (LL) season for Villarreal, who have won just three of their opening 13 matches (W3, D3, L7). Only one of those victories came in their past eight league games, which is troublesome form that saw the Yellow Submarine sink to 14th before the international break. That run also cost Pacheta, who was only appointed in September, his job and a returning Marcelino García Toral was selected as his replacement over the break.
Marcelino’s first game in charge on Wednesday night did deliver a win, but not in a particularly impressive manner, as they needed extra time to overcome fourth-tier side Zamora 2-1 away in Copa del Rey action. This will subsequently be Marcelino’s first home game in charge since returning, and he might take comfort from the fact his first contest at Estadi de la Ceràmica in his last stint delivered a 3-0 win (vs Sabadell, January 2013), which also happens to be the scoreline Villarreal beat Osasuna by in the last H2H in March.
Osasuna’s form across the last five rounds (W1, D1, L3) mirrors that of their hosts, and they start the round just two points ahead of them in the LL table. It’s easy to forget that the away side came into this season on a high after securing European football for the first time in 16 years thanks to last campaign’s top-seven finish, but that joy was short-lived as they were knocked out in the Europa Conference League qualifying stage and are now already nine points worse off than they were at this stage of last season.
Villarreal got the better of Osasuna in both league H2H meetings last season, which ended a run of three straight wins for Jagoba Arrasate’s side before that. They will hope they can switch that momentum back in their favour here and rediscover some of the good travelling form they showed early in the campaign, as Los Rojillos scored exactly two goals in each of their opening four LL away games (W3, L1), but have netted only once in the two since (L2).
Players to watch: José Luis Morales netted both goals in Wednesday’s win, and he also scored a brace in March’s H2H between these two. In-form Ante Budimir, who was on target for Croatia on Tuesday, has scored five of Osasuna’s last seven goals.
Hot stat: Three of the past four H2Hs at this venue have produced 5+ match cards.
