H2H: Villarreal vs Sivasspor – Prediction (Europa League

Preview and Teams Comparison.

Paco Alcácer is one of two Villarreal (and one of four La Liga) players to have scored in three separate LL fixtures this season, opening the scoring in two of his side’s last three. Fayçal Fajr scored the final goal in Sivasspor’s last league fixture, and as a 2019/20 squad player for Getafe, has recent experience playing in Spain. Both teams have scored in nine of Villarreal’s last 11 competitive matches, as well as six of their last seven at home.

Villarreal Insights.

Villarreal enter into a seventh UEFA Europa League (UEL) campaign in eight seasons, kicking their group stage off at home where they enjoy a four-game unbeaten La Liga (LL) run (W3, D1) in 2020/21, despite conceding in all four fixtures. The Spanish side coasted through the 2018/19 UEL group stage undefeated at home, converting three HT leads into seven points (W2, D1) with a healthy average of three goals scored per game. Whilst this is their inaugural clash with Sivasspor, their three previous home meetings with Turkish opposition this century have netted mixed results (W1, D1, L1), including a 2-1 defeat in 2016/17.

Sivasspor Insights.

Sivasspor’s maiden UEL group stage appearance is their first UEFA appearance since failing to make it past the qualifiers for either club tournament in the 2009/10 season. Albeit over a decade back, their last three UEFA away trips saw them register three losses ‘to nil’, conceding a total of ten goals across those three defeats. Domestically speaking, Sivasspor have travelled well, earning 14 Süper Lig points from their last eight away trips (W4, D2, L2), whilst also managing to take points from five of their last six league road games when starting as an outsider (W3, D2, L1). Notably, they did so despite both teams scoring in five of those six games.