Villarreal host Espanyol with table, form and history on their side

Some fixtures need little decoding. Villarreal against Espanyol, on 30 October at 20:00 UTC, is one of them: the table, the form guide and the head-to-head mostly lean the same way.

The table

Villarreal are 10th in La Liga with 12 points from 10 games: 3 wins, 3 draws, 4 defeats, 15 goals scored and 14 conceded.

Espanyol are 18th of 20 with 8 points from 10: 2 wins, 2 draws, 6 defeats, 12 scored and 14 conceded.

The goals conceded are level at 14 each. Villarreal's edge is in what they score, 15 against 12.

The form guide

Across league, Champions League and Copa del Rey, Villarreal's last 5 read, most recent first:

• Manacor away in the Copa del Rey: won 5-0
• Valencia away in La Liga: won 2-1
• Liverpool away in the Champions League: lost 3-4
• Elche at home in La Liga: drew 0-0
• Napoli at home in the Champions League: won 3-1

That is 3 wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat, with 13 goals scored and 6 conceded.

Espanyol's last 5, also mixing league and cup, make harder reading:

• Sestao River away in the Copa del Rey: lost 3-4
• Racing Santander away in La Liga: lost 1-2
• Atletico Madrid at home in La Liga: lost 0-1
• Malaga away in La Liga: drew 1-1
• Elche at home in La Liga: lost 1-3

No wins, 1 draw, 4 defeats, 6 goals scored and 11 conceded. The most recent result is a cup defeat to Sestao River. They have scored in 4 of those 5 games but conceded in every one.

The head-to-head

The last 6 meetings all went Villarreal's way, with 18 goals in total. The most recent was a 4-1 at Villarreal's ground on 9 February. Before that, Villarreal won 2-0 away in November, 1-0 at home in April 2025, and 2-1 away in September 2024. They also won 4-2 at home in April 2023 and 1-0 away in November 2022.

Espanyol have not won any of those 6 games, and they scored 0 goals in 3 of them.

Where Espanyol can hurt

Roberto Fernández has 6 league goals for Espanyol. If the visitors are to take something from the game, his goals are the obvious route.

The team sheets

Neither side is at full strength.

Villarreal will be without P. Gueye, who is out through a red card. Another 3 are doubts: I. Akhomach (muscle injury), C. Romero (injury) and N. Saliba (injury).

Espanyol are missing K. Garcia (hamstring injury) and Jofre (groin injury), both ruled out.

The read

A team 10th in the table, fresh from a 5-0 cup win, against a side 18th that has lost 4 of its last 5, with 6 wins from 6 in this fixture behind the hosts: the numbers lean Villarreal's way. Their 3 doubts are the one note of caution, and with goals conceded level at 14 each, the visitors do not arrive without a case.

What to watch before kick-off

The team sheets. Villarreal's 3 doubts will be settled before the game, and Espanyol's 2 absentees are already known.