Thursday Europa League Villarreal vs Liverpool

April 28, 2016 20:05pm – El Madrigal

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Villarreal: DLLWW

Liverpool: DWWWW

Spain’s Villarreal and England’s Liverpool will meet in a competitive environment for the very first time on Thursday night in the first leg of this Europa League semi-final clash.

Villarreal have lost just one game in this year’s tournament – the opener against Rapid Vienna, while Liverpool have yet to be beaten. However, the Spaniards have a perfect record on home soil, having won all six of their matches at El Madrigal, during which they kept five clean sheets and conceded just one goal.

The Yellow Submarine also possess the tournament’s second most potent striker in Cédric Bakambu. The front man has bagged a total of nine goals, and needs just one more to join Athletic Club’s Aritz Aduriz at the top of the charts.

Visitors Liverpool will certainly have their work cut out if they are to maintain their unbeaten record and take a positive result back to Anfield.

The Red’s current record in this year’s competition stands at W5 D7 L0, and they would probably be happy to take a draw back to England just as they did in the quarter-finals against Borussia Dortmund. In fact, having home advantage in this two-legged tie will certainly suit the Merseyside team.

Klopp’s men have once again been hit by injuries, with some key players such as Divock Origi, Jordan Henderson and Emre Can missing, while Mamadou Sakho has been left out following revelations about a suspect drug test result.

Key Facts – Europa League Villarreal vs Liverpool

• All of Liverpool’s Europa League away matches have produced Under 2.5 Goals.
• Liverpool are unbeaten in this season’s tournament
• Villarreal are unbeaten in their last 11 Europa League games
• The Spanish side have won all six of their Europa League home matches
• Villarreal have conceded just one goal at home in this tournament

Prediction

Four of Villarreal’s six home games and all of Liverpool’s away games have produced Under 2.5 Goals.

You can back Under 2.5 Goals at 8/13 with Betfair.