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Villarreal vs Rayo Vallecano: prediction & betting odds 18 December 2024
Betting tips 18 December 2024
Over the past month, Villarreal have slipped down the La Liga standings, while Rayo Vallecano are climbing towards the top ten. During the weekend, they held Real Madrid to a draw at home (3:3), so an away trip to a struggling Villarreal might not pose a significant challenge for them.
Villarreal's attacking approach under the current coaching staff exposes their play on both ends. The bet on both teams to score has come through in six of their last nine matches. In the last round, they lost to Real Betis (1:2)—with Logan Costa, Santi Comesaña, and Alfonso Pedraza absent, which impacted their defence. In terms of xG, Villarreal were much more threatening than the Sevillians (2.01 against 0.60), and in the overall expected goals metric, Villarreal rank in La Liga's top four (32.00).
In Rayo's four December matches, the total over 2.5 has been seen three times. Their high-scoring draw with Real Madrid proved that Rayo Vallecano are in fine mental shape, creating far more chances (1.65 against 0.65 in xG). The coaching staff emphasise vertical play with a 4-4-2 formation—the wide midfielders frequently join the attack, forming an attacking quartet with the forwards.
Matches involving Villarreal and Rayo Vallecano regularly feature plenty of goals. The teams need points midweek to improve their league positions, so they will likely prioritise attacking play.
Villarreal vs Rayo Vallecano Odds
La Liga: previous matches in the tournament
H2H: Villarreal — Rayo Vallecano
Tables
Team lineups
|
Marcelino
|
coach | ||
| Player | Matches | Goals | |
|
Line-up
|
|||
|
Luíz Lúcio Reis Júnior
|
gk. | 4 | -5 |
|
Sergi Cardona
|
df. | 17 | 1 |
|
Logan Evans Costa
|
df. | 14 | 1 |
|
Pau Navarro Badenes
|
df. | 7 | 0 |
|
Willy Kambwala Ndengushi
|
df. | 2 | 0 |
|
Santi Comesaña
|
mf. | 17 | 2 |
|
Pape Alassane Gueye
|
mf. | 16 | 0 |
|
Yeremy Jesús Pino Santos
|
mf. | 16 | 0 |
|
Denis Suárez
|
mf. | 8 | 0 |
|
Thierno Mamadou Barry
|
fw. | 17 | 7 |
|
Ayoze Pérez
|
fw. | 12 | 8 |
|
Substitutes
|
|||
|
Rubén Gómez Peris
|
gk. | 0 | 0 |
|
Raúl Albiol
|
df. | 15 | 0 |
|
Juan Bernat
|
df. | 10 | 0 |
|
Eric Bailly
|
df. | 9 | 0 |
|
Juan Foyth
|
df. | 2 | 0 |
|
Arnau Solà Mateu
|
df. | 0 | 0 |
|
Thiago Ezequiel Ojeda
|
mf. | 1 | 0 |
|
Gerard Moreno
|
fw. | 8 | 2 |
|
Pau Cabanes de la Torre
|
fw. | 7 | 1 |
|
Karl Edouard Blaise Etta Eyong
|
fw. | 0 | 0 |
|
Íñigo Pérez
|
coach | ||
| Player | Matches | Goals | |
|
Line-up
|
|||
|
Augusto Martín Batalla Barga
|
gk. | 14 | -16 |
|
Florian Lejeune
|
df. | 19 | 0 |
|
Abdul Mumin
|
df. | 17 | 2 |
|
Iván Balliu
|
df. | 14 | 0 |
|
Alfonso Espino
|
df. | 6 | 0 |
|
Óscar Valentín
|
mf. | 19 | 0 |
|
Álvaro García
|
mf. | 17 | 2 |
|
Pedro Díaz
|
mf. | 9 | 0 |
|
Oscar Trejo
|
mf. | 7 | 0 |
|
Jorge de Frutos
|
fw. | 19 | 4 |
|
Sergio Camello
|
fw. | 19 | 2 |
|
Substitutes
|
|||
|
Daniel Cárdenas Lindez
|
gk. | 5 | -6 |
|
Andrei Raţiu
|
df. | 17 | 1 |
|
Josep María Chavarría Pérez
|
df. | 15 | 0 |
|
Aridane Hernández
|
df. | 4 | 0 |
|
Isaac Palazón Camacho
|
mf. | 19 | 3 |
|
Pathé Ismaël Ciss
|
mf. | 16 | 1 |
|
Unai López
|
mf. | 16 | 3 |
|
Randy Nteka
|
mf. | 14 | 1 |
|
Gerard Gumbau
|
mf. | 10 | 0 |
|
Jonathan Montiel
|
mf. | 0 | 0 |
|
Adrian Embarba
|
fw. | 17 | 1 |
|
Sergi Guardiola
|
fw. | 5 | 0 |
