Mallorca vs Villarreal

Visit Mallorca Estadi is the venue as Mallorca and Villarreal go head-to-head in an exciting La Liga encounter.

Mallorca fought back after conceding an early opener and subsequently wasting a first-half penalty to hold newly-promoted Las Palmas to a dramatic 1-1 draw in their opening 2023/24 La Liga fixture. Despite drawing their curtain-raising league match for the third season on the trot, ‘Los Piratas’ will be confident about returning to winning ways, having gone unbeaten in their last seven home outings in the top flight since early March (W4, D3). Three of their four victories in that sequence came ‘to nil,’ highlighting the significance of scoring the opening goal. Javier Aguirre’s side can draw further confidence from holding Villarreal winless in their last six meetings at Visit Mallorca Estadi (W4, D2), a run stretching back to 2009! Interestingly, four of those six H2Hs saw Mallorca keep a clean sheet.

On the other hand, Villarreal’s woeful five-game winless form toward the end of the disappointing pre-season (D2, L3) translated to their La Liga day-one clash against Real Betis as they succumbed to a 2-1 defeat on home turf. After losing their curtain-raising league game for the first time since 2018/19, ‘El Submarino Amarillo’ will be forgiven for taking this trip in a pessimistic mood. Adding to this sentiment, a 3-0 humbling of Valladolid last season remains Villarreal’s only victory in their opening league away game of the top-flight season since 2014/15 (D4, L3). All things considered, the visitors’ hopes of bouncing back look slim, especially without the high-profile summer departures Nicolas Jackson, Pau Torres and Samuel Chukwueze.