Xavi’s Barcelona and Unai Emery’s Villarreal do battle at the Camp Nou in La Liga this Thursday. Barca suffered their first league defeat of the season in their last match, crashing to a defeat to fierce rivals Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Blaugrana will be desperate to get back to winning ways here. Read on for our Barcelona vs. Villarreal score prediction.
Matchup Preview
Barcelona has made a blistering start to their 2022-23 league campaign as they try to regain the title back from rivals Real.
However, after seven straight La Liga wins, Barca was brought back down to earth after losing the El Clasico on Sunday. They now have back-to-back home games, and Xavi will be looking for no less than six points.
Villareal’s Winning Percentage
Villarreal has made a steady start to their season, winning four of nine in the league. Emery’s boys have been tough to beat lately, suffering just one loss from their past seven league and cup fixtures.
Can they cause an upset in Catalonia in midweek? In this in-depth preview, we give you our Barcelona vs. Villarreal score prediction and hunt down the latest La Liga betting odds.
Barcelona vs. Villarreal Odds Breakdown
Barcelona is the bookies’ favorite in this one. Xavi will be looking for a response from his players, and Blaugrana is priced at just -200 to get all three points on home turf.
Villarreal has been a tough nut to crack lately, and the away win here is available at the tempting La Liga betting odds of +500, while the draw is currently priced at +350.
We have the best La Liga games predictions around, and you can find our Barcelona vs. Villarreal score prediction below.
Barcelona vs. Villarreal Betting Preview
Barcelona Preview
By their high standards, Barcelona has not been themselves over the past couple of years or so. The Spanish heavyweights have struggled to cope with life after Lionel Messi, but they are starting to build an attractive starting XI once again.
Bolstered by the evergreen Robert Lewandowski, Blaugrana could challenge for the title this season. Barcelona went into last weekend’s El Clasico unbeaten in the league.
They slipped up at the Bernabeu, suffering a gut-wrenching 3-1 defeat to Carlo Ancelotti’s Blancos. However, they dropped just two points before that.
2022-23 La Liga Season
Barca was held to a goalless draw by Rayo Vallecano at the Camp Nou on the opening weekend of the 2022-23 La Liga season.
However, they went on to win the next seven to fire themselves to the summit, seeing off the likes of Real Sociedad, Sevilla, and Celta Vigo along the way.
After the loss in Madrid, Barcelona will be eager to get back to winning ways at the first time of asking. Thursday’s fixture marks the start of three straight league and cup games on their own patch – can Xavi’s troops put together another winning run?
Villarreal Preview
Emery’s Villarreal is one of the more unpredictable teams in Spain’s top flight at present. On their day, the Yellow Submarine are capable of beating anyone.
Last term, they reached the UEFA Champions League semi-finals and beat Barcelona at the Camp Nou on the final weekend of the league season.
La Liga Encounters
Villarreal has had a mixed bag of results at the start of this campaign, though. They occupy the seventh spot ahead of the midweek fixtures, winning four, drawing three, and losing two of their opening nine La Liga encounters.
In the last one, an Arnaut Danjuma brace was enough to give Villarreal a comfortable 2-0 win over Osasuna at Ciutat de Valencia.
On the road, the Castellon club has picked up wins at Real Valladolid, Atletico Madrid, Hajduk Split, Hapoel Beer Sheva, and Austria Vienna this season.
Of course, a trip to the Camp Nou will be one of the toughest challenges of the campaign, but Emery and his side will back themselves to leave with a positive result. Can Villarreal cause an upset on Thursday?
Barcelona vs. Villarreal Pick and Prediction
As we touched on, when these two La Liga teams last went head-to-head, Villarreal picked up an impressive 2-0 win at the Camp Nou at the end of the 2021-22 La Liga season. However, Barca won 3-1 at the Estadio de la Ceramica last November.
Barcelona is having their first mini-slump of the season, as the Catalonia giants have won just one of their last four league and cup matches. During that spell, they succumbed to Inter Milan and Real Madrid.
Who to Bet On?
However, we are backing the home side to strike back in style here, and our Barcelona vs. Villarreal score prediction is a 2-0 victory for the home team, which you can get at the solid odds of +750.
La Liga betting odds of +125 for Barca to be winning at half-time and full-time are also worth having a punt on.
Final Score Prediction: Barcelona 2-0 Villarreal
La Liga Pick: Barcelona Half Time & Full Time (+125)
If you love sports and want more sports betting information follow us as @InsidersBetDig on Twitter and sign up to our mailing list for free betting picks.
