Will the Yellow Submarine shake off the embarrassment in Cyprus?
Villarreal CF qualified for the UEFA Champions League by finishing fifth in the 2024/25 season. However, things could hardly have gone worse for the Yellow Submarine (Spanish: Submarino amarillo) in the league phase. With only one point out of a possible twelve, the eastern Spanish side are 32nd in the Champions League table. During the week, they suffered an embarrassing 0-1 defeat at the hands of Cypriot representatives Pafos FC. Nevertheless, the trend for Espanyol Barcelona vs. Villarreal is for the visitors to win.
Not only has the Yellow Submarine won all of its last five competitive games against the Catalans, but Villarreal is also in good form overall at the moment. In La Liga, the team from the east coast of Spain is in third place and has conceded only ten goals in eleven games, giving them the best defense in the country. Against this backdrop, we find the greatest value in this match in betting that a maximum of two goals will be scored at the RCDE Stadium, where the Periquitos have lost only one of their six La Liga home games in the 2025/26 season (four wins, one draw).
Basically, we would not want to categorically rule out the Catalans gaining a point, although it is unlikely to be a high-scoring match. As a reasonable alternative to betting on under 2.5 goals, we would therefore also recommend betting that the home side will score a maximum of one goal. Espanyol Barcelona vs. Villarreal odds of 1.55 are available for this bet, which we found in the clear Betano app.
Espanyol Barcelona – Villarreal Head-to-head comparison / H2H record
Head to head: 12 – 21 – 21
A total of 54 matches have taken place between the two teams so far, with Villarreal CF leading the head-to-head record against Espanyol Barcelona very clearly with 21 wins. Not only did the Yellow Submarine just pick up a full six points against the Catalans in 2024/25, but the players from the Spanish east coast also won all of their last five competitive games against the Periquitos.
Espanyol Barcelona – Villarreal Tip
Considering that RCDE has lost only one of its six La Liga home games in the 2025/26 season (four wins, one draw) and sent Champions League participant Atletico Madrid home with a 2-1 defeat, the betting odds for a home win for the Periquitos in Espanyol Barcelona vs. Villarreal are also not uninteresting. At Bet365, where new customers can pocket up to €100 in betting credits with the Bet365 bonus, the Catalans’ home win is ultimately priced at 2.90. However, it should be noted that the home side will first have to break down the Yellow Submarine’s defense, which has conceded only ten goals in eleven league games – the best record in the league.
The Yellow Submarine has a lot to make up for after their embarrassing 1-0 defeat in Cyprus in the Champions League. However, the eastern Spaniards cannot just charge headlong into the RCDE Stadium. Instead, we expect two defensively minded teams that are likely to neutralize each other for the most part, which is why our prediction for Espanyol Barcelona vs. Villarreal is a maximum of two goals in the game.
