Villarreal vs Barcelona Prediction: Еxpect the guests to be active

Sunday pool of the third round of the Spanish La Liga 2023/24 will start with a match in which Villarreal will meet Barcelona. Despite the field factor, bookmakers are on the side of the reigning champion in the pair.

The team started the championship badly, with a 1:2 home defeat to Betis. In the second round, the Yellows made amends by beating Mallorca 1:0 away. Moreno scored the only goal in that game in the 62nd minute. Overall, Villarreal had 15 shots on goal and three shots on goal, possessed the ball for 60% of the game time, and had an xG of 2.18 goals.

Before the season's official start, Barcelona secured three wins in three friendlies, but the Catalans started the season with an away nil draw against Getafe. In the second round, the Blues hosted Cadiz and beat the South with a score of 2:0, but it can not be said that the victory was given to Barça with ease. Pedri scored the first goal only in the 82nd minute of the match, and Torres, with a pass from Lewandowski, put the game at the fourth added minute. In general, Barcelona players scored 3.65 goals, possessed the ball 75% of the time, and shot 24 times toward the goal, and 10 times into the net.

In the match against Cádiz, Barcelona scored more than two goals. And it is very likely that in Villarreal, the Catalans will not have enough one goal to celebrate the victory, and therefore, we should expect activity from the guests. Villarreal lost the first home game of the season but will do everything possible to prevent this from happening again in the next round of La Liga. At the same time, Villarreal is capable of scoring against anyone, including Barcelona.