Villarreal vs Rayo Vallecano Prediction - Will Rayo Be Able To React Against Last Week's Heavy Home Defeat?

Next Saturday night, Villarreal will take on Rayo Vallecano at El Madrigal for round 37 of Liga BBVA on a match where, apart from honour, there is nothing else at stake.

After last weekend’s goalless draw at Sanchez Pizjuan against Sevilla, the Yellow Submarine have finally sealed their passport to the UEFA Europa League next season and shredded Sevilla’s hopes of grabbing a place at the Champions League into pieces.

Villarreal, which only returned last season to the top tier of Spanish football, had a very a good season if one considers the amount of difficulties newcomers usually face after being promoted. The glory days from Villarreal at La Liga are long gone, but Marcelino Toral seems to know how restore those good old days. At the age of 48, the Spanish head coach, who only arrived at El Madrigal in 2013, is executing a splendid job and the future of the team will certainly be bright if they carry on with the structured path they started last year.

For the match against Rayo, Marcelino Toral will probably still not be able to rely on  the Spanish defenders José Dorado and Pablo Iniguez and on the French forward Jérémy Perbet, all of them sidelined due to injury.

As for Rayo Vallecano, who saw their recently good streak come to an abrupt end last Friday at the hands of Athletic Bilbao, the match against Villarreal might represent a good opportunity to quickly forget last weekend’s heavy defeat.

Those who accompanied Rayo earlier this season would never have guessed that the team from Vallecas would be able to build up such an amazing recovery, especially if one considers that they only won five matches during the first half of the campaign.

Rayo’s manager (Paco Jémez) is, according to his players, the main responsible for the team’s recent success and it is quite fair to say that he surely was one of the most impressive managers of La Liga this season, since it is certainly not easy to recover a team’s morale after such a disappointing start.

For the match at El Madrigal, Paco Jémez will not be able to count on the Spanish defender Tito and on the midfielders Jonathan Viera, Alberto Perea, and Lass, who are still recovering from recent injuries.

When both sides met at Vallecas back in January, Villarreal smashed Los Franjirrojos 5-2 with an amazing hat-trick from Uche and two goals from Perbet. Next Saturday’s match will probably be different since Rayo are a completely different team now and their lethal counter-attacks might constitute a severe threat to the Yellow Submarine’s frail fuselage.

Villarreal

Stats: W-15 L-13 D-8

Recent Form - DLWLLD

Rayo Vallecano

Stats: W-13 L-19 D-4

Recent Form - WDWWL

Possible Line-ups

Villarreal (4-4-2 Diamond) – Asenjo - Mario - Musacchio - Pantic - Costa - Pina - Bruno - O. Torres - Cani - Uche - Giovani Dos Santos

Rayo Vallecano (4-2-3-1) - Rubén - Arbilla - Zé Castro - Gálvez - Nacho - Trashorras - Saúl - Rochina - Bueno - Falqué - Larrivey

Prediction

Villarreal 1 Rayo Vallecano 1