🏏 Sat, 5 Sep 2026 21:00 CEST
Villarreal CF
vs
Deportivo La Coruna
4-4-2 vs 4-4-2
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- Villarreal sit 16th on two points from three matches (0W 2D 1L, four scored, five conceded, minus-one goal difference), while Deportivo La Coruna arrive ninth on five points, three clear of their hosts. All three of Villarreal's league games so far have been played on the road, so this is a badly needed chance to bank points at home. With Barcelona already nine points from three games at the top, the Yellow Submarine cannot let the gap stretch further.
- Villarreal's recent run reads D-D-L. They twice came away from difficult trips with a share of the spoils, drawing 2-2 at Racing Santander and 2-2 at Atletico Madrid, before losing 1-0 at Alaves in round three. That defeat was both their first of the campaign and their first blank, and five goals conceded in three outings points to a back line still finding its rhythm.
- Deportivo are unbeaten in their first top-flight season for eight years, taking a win and two draws from three games. They opened with a 1-1 draw at home to Elche, drew 1-1 away at Malaga, then beat Valencia 3-1 at home for a first victory. Five scored and three conceded gives them a plus-two goal difference and ninth place, a stronger start than most expected from a promoted side.
- Both teams line up in a 4-4-2, so the four-versus-four battle in midfield will decide who dictates. Villarreal lean on 189cm Senegal international Pape Gueye, formerly of Marseille and Sevilla, whose reach makes him a natural ball-winner, with 22-year-old Alberto Moleiro (ex-Las Palmas) providing invention in tight areas. Deportivo counter with 163cm playmaker Mario Soriano, an Atletico Madrid academy graduate, alongside 22-year-old Fiorentina-schooled anchor Lorenzo Amatucci.
- Villarreal's front two combines 33-year-old Ayoze Perez and 34-year-old captain Gerard Moreno. Ayoze spent years in the Premier League with Newcastle and Leicester before scoring 19 goals to finish top scorer in his first season at Villarreal. Moreno, a left-footed finisher with more than 120 LaLiga goals, is a club legend who was central to their Europa League triumph.
- Deportivo pair 37-year-old Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang with promotion hero Bil Nsongo. Aubameyang, whose career has taken in Borussia Dortmund, Arsenal, Barcelona and Marseille, remains the reference point in attack and takes the penalties, with his runs in behind still sharp. Nsongo, remembered for a two-goal display against Valladolid, links play and presses from the front to give his partner room to run.
- Aerial duels and second balls could swing this one. Villarreal field 190cm centre-back Logan Costa, a 28-cap international signed from Toulouse, alongside Renato Veiga, brought in from Chelsea for a club-record fee, whose left-footed long passing starts the build-up. Deportivo answer with Uruguay captain Jose Maria Gimenez, an uncompromising duel-fighter, and 21-year-old Lucas Noubi, signed from Standard Liege and facing his sternest test yet against top-flight strikers.
- The right flank hinges on Nicolas Pepe's left foot. The 31-year-old Ivory Coast winger, once an 80 million euro club-record signing for Arsenal, is at his most dangerous cutting inside to shoot. Marking him is 26-year-old Italian left-back Giacomo Quagliata, a well-travelled full-back from Heracles and Cremonese whose combativeness and repeated runs up and down the touchline made him an unexpected asset in the promotion campaign.
- Both clubs have invested heavily in their goalkeepers. Villarreal start 194cm Brazilian Luiz Junior, the most expensive keeper in the club's history, while Deportivo trust Leonardo Roman, a roughly nine-million-euro arrival from Mallorca whose consistency last season earned a Spain call-up. Villarreal also have 36-year-old Hungary international Peter Gulacsi on the bench, a keeper with 296 Bundesliga appearances and 96 clean sheets who joined in August 2026.
- Deportivo's bench holds a homecoming story in Angelino. The 29-year-old left-back came through the club's academy before spells at Manchester City, RB Leipzig and Roma, and has returned on loan with an option to buy. If he enters, his crossing from the left changes the shape of the attack. Marc Casado, the 22-year-old former La Masia captain, waits as a holding option to settle the midfield late on.