Villarreal – Sporting Gijón (La Liga)
Villarreal and Sporting Gijón will measure forces this Friday, at Estadio de la Cerámica (Villarreal), in a game referent to the 35th round of the La Liga. After a 2-1 home win against Leganés and a 0-1 away win against Atletico Madrid in the La Liga’s last rounds, Villarreal arrive here full of confidence. Sporting Gijón, on their turn, arrive here after a really bad season, having won, so far, 5 matches.
Villarreal hold the 5th place in the La Liga table with 60 points, which comes from 17 victories, 9 draws and 8 defeats, with 49 goals scored and 27 conceded. Lately, the team has been presenting some good results, since in their last 5 official matches, in this competition, they have won 4 and lost the other one. This sequence of results started with a 0-1 away win against real Betis, that was followed by a 3-1 home win against Athletic, a 2-1 away loss against Alavés, and as mentioned before a 2-1 home win against Leganés and a 0-1 away win against Atletico Madrid.
At home in the La Liga so far, the team has played 17 matches: won 10, drew 3 and lost 4. It´s at home that this group led by Fran Escribá is stronger and has better performances, winning 3 of their last 5 clashes, losing the remaining 2, and scored 11 goals while conceding 8 in the process. Defensively this is one of the best organized teams of the Spanish championship, being the second team that concedes the least goals, although denoting some difficulty in air duels and in defending ball-stops. Offensively, the Yellow Submarine has been successful in clearing passes.
Sergio Asenjo, Cheryshev and Víctor Ruiz are out due to injury. Musacchio and Jaume Costa are both suspended.
Probable Lineup: Fernández – Ángel, Bonera, González e Mario – Santos, Trigueros, Bruno Soriano e Roberto Soriano – Soldado e Bakambu.
Sporting Gijón hold the 18th place in the La Liga table with 24 points, which comes from 5 victories, 9 draws and 20 defeats, with 37 goals scored and 67 conceded. Lately, the team slightly increased its performance, since in their last 6 official matches, in this competition, they have only lost 3 and offered some resistance to Real Madrid in one of these defeats. This sequence of results started with a 0-0 away draw against Sevilla, that was followed by a 0-1 home loss against Málaga, a 3-1 away loss against Real Sociedad, a 2-3 home lost against Real Madrid, a 2-2 away draw against Osasuna, and a 1-1 home draw against Espanyol.
As a visitor in the La Liga so far, the team has played 17 matches: won 1, drew 6 and lost 10. In these 17 away matches they have 14 goals scored and 31 conceded. Decidedly, outside their domains it’s not where they present the best performances. The Rojiblancos are the 3rd team in the league that concede more goals, as a result of a tremendous defensive disorganization. Offensively, they are also very ineffective.
Probable Lineup:Cuéllar – Douglas, Babin, Meré e Canella – Gómez, Vesga e Álvarez – Rodríguez, Cop e Burgui.
Gijón need to win if they want to avoid La Liga relegation, but Villarreal, extremely motivated with their last victory, won’t let them win at their own domains.
