Fourth-placed Villarreal welcome sixth-placed Espanyol to the Estadio de la Cerámica on Monday evening with both sides desperate to end painful winless runs. Marcelino's hosts sit on 42 points and boast a superior goal difference of +16, yet they arrive in unfamiliar crisis mode after collecting just one point from their last five matches across all competitions. Manolo González's visitors carry their own troubles into the Valencian fortress, having gone winless in five league outings in 2026 with four defeats and a single draw. Despite recent stumbles, Villarreal remain clear favourites at home, where they have lost just once all season and averaged 2.67 points per game.
Villarreal's January collapse has been startling for a side that began the campaign in title-contention form. The 2-0 defeat at Real Betis on January 17 started the slide, followed by home losses to Ajax (1-2) and Real Madrid (0-2), then a heavy 3-0 reverse at Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League. A spirited 2-2 draw at Osasuna last Friday stopped the bleeding but failed to deliver the three points Marcelino demanded. Their last victory came on January 10, a comfortable 3-1 home success against Alaves, and since then they have managed just two goals from open play in La Liga while conceding six.
Espanyol's calendar year has been equally miserable despite occupying a respectable sixth-place position. The Pericos were riding a five-match winning streak heading into January before Barcelona inflicted a 2-0 defeat in the Catalan derby. A hard-fought 1-1 draw at Levante followed, then came consecutive home defeats to Girona (0-2) and Alaves (1-2), sandwiching a dramatic 3-2 loss at Valencia. González's men have scored just three goals in their last four league matches and conceded seven, exposing defensive vulnerabilities that had seemed resolved during their December surge.
Villarreal hold a dominant advantage in this fixture, winning 20 of 48 previous meetings while Espanyol have managed just eight victories and 19 draws. The hosts have taken maximum points from each of the last four encounters, including a 2-0 win at the RCDE Stadium in November when goals from Gerard Moreno and Alberto Moleiro sealed a routine away success. Espanyol have not beaten Villarreal since April 2022 and have scored just once against them in the past four meetings.
My prediction is Both Teams To Score at 1.75. Villarreal have seen BTTS land in 15 of 21 league matches (71%), while Espanyol have scored in 64% of their away fixtures despite their overall struggles. Home desperation should open spaces for the visitors to exploit, especially with Villarreal having kept just one clean sheet in their last eight games. Espanyol's away record of four wins and just three defeats shows they remain competitive on their travels. The xG projection (1.67–1.06) supports a 2-1 finish.
