UD Almería vs Villarreal CF: a clash between two teams with proven bouncebackability
Both top-flight teams will go into the game on the back of vital victories after putting an end to losing streaks in the league.
UD Almería bade farewell to their three-week losing streak through the historic victory over current league pacesetters FC Barcelona. Next guests Villarreal CF will go into this Saturday's game at the Power Horse Stadium (KO 4:15pm CET) after leaving behind four defeats in a row thanks to a win over Getafe CF on the previous Matchday. A face-off between the Rojiblancos and the Submarino Amarillo in the making as both sides will be going all out to climb up the table and meet their objectives sooner rather than later. This will be Villarreal CF's 11th visit to the south coast with the hosts obtaining the better results: three wins, six draws and only one defeat.
UNMET CHALLENGE
Rubi's team is failing to meet a pair of milestones this 2022/23 season: apart from not having won away from home, the Indalicos haven't racked up two consecutive victories yet. Once the big challenge of beating FC Barcelona (1-0) for the first time ever has been solved, UD Almeria are to host their second game on the bounce at the Power Horse Stadium. Oddly enough, the last time when UD Almería overcame both challenges within the Spanish top flight dates back to Matchdays 21 and 22 in the 2014/15 campaign after edging past Getafe CF (1-0) and Córdoba CF (1-2), the last away victory for UD Almería in the top tier.
REFEREE
Pablo González Fuertes, from the Asturias Referees School, will be the match official and will be assisted by Carlos Del Cerro Grande. González Fuertes has spent six seasons in the elite football and has refereed 11 games with UD Almería in action without any tie in the record: four wins and seven losses; Villarreal CF have been playing 16 times with the ref blowing the whistle and getting eight wins, three draws and five losses.
HISTORY
Villarreal CF's last visit on to the Costa de Almería took place in a Spanish Cup tie in the 2018/19 season with a three-all draw. Score draw was the most picked up option in the Spanish football pool in the clashes between the two teams: 6 out of the 10 times, the two sides ended sharing the spoils in Almería city.
LAST-MINUTE
Although it is true that Rubi's men have been very close to recording their first victory away from the Power Horse Stadium, they were ahead of their next adversaries from the Castellon-based team for quite a few minutes during the match held in the first half of the season, where the Amarillos -Unai Emery's last game on the Groguets dugout- claimed victory with a last-grasp goal (2-1). There, Melero put the Almerienses in front, however the Madrid-born midfielder now remains a doubt as he is nearing a minor injury.
The Rojiblancos accomplished the last training session this Friday evening session at the Power Horse Stadium. The squad has worked on tactics and game strategy ahead of this Saturday's appointment.
