Villarreal will be bidding to bounce back from four straight La Liga defeats when they continue their domestic campaign at home to lowly Getafe on Monday night.

The Yellow Submarine have dropped into ninth position in the table due to their recent struggles, while Getafe occupy 16th, level on points with 18th-placed Cadiz on the same number of matches (22).

Villarreal’s freefall down the top half of La Liga’s (LL) standings continued as they ended the round with the division’s second-longest losing streak (L4) courtesy of their second two-goal loss to Mallorca this season.

The pressure is intensifying on new boss Quique Setién, who has just clocked up four months in the job, after the sinking Yellow Submarine completed their longest LL losing streak of this century.

Setién granted his squad two days off to refresh and reset mentally ahead of this Monday night battle with Getafe, who held Villarreal to the first of their nine scoreless efforts this LL season in the reverse H2H (0-0).

Villarreal don’t appear deserving of European football after losing to three top-half clubs in their last four outings, but their stellar W6, D4, L1 record in LL against teams that started this round 11th or lower gives them hope of ending their poor recent run.

Getafe broke a 52-day drought and became the 19th club in the division to record their first LL win of 2023 as they left the relegation zone with an immensely valuable 1-0 victory over Valencia.

That followed 1-1 draws with Vallecano and Atlético Madrid that underlined the potential they have against higher ranked opposition, having long put their own four-game LL losing streak behind them.

Whilst Getafe manager Quique Sánchez Flores was sad about the state of his beloved Valencia following the game, he spoke highly of the “energy” a breakthrough win can provide.

Their next obstacle in the fight for survival is securing back-to-back LL wins for the first time in 17 games, and to do so would also bring to an end a series of three straight 1-0 losses in away H2Hs.

Players to watch: After he ended his 16-game LL goal scoring drought last round, Villarreal will hope José Luis Morales can score his first goal in ten H2Hs as they continue battling with key injuries.

Getafe could do with Enes Ünal getting involved a little earlier, for just one of his seven LL goals this season have been scored in the first 40 minutes.

Hot stat: Getafe’s last seven LL matches were either drawn or ended with a one-goal margin, whilst Villarreal’s last five victories in the competition have also been by a single goal.

Villarreal La Liga form:

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Villarreal form (all competitions):

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Getafe La Liga form:

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Villarreal possible starting lineup:

Reina; Foyth, Albiol, P Torres, A Moreno; Capoue, Parejo, Baena; Pino, Morales, Chukwueze

Getafe possible starting lineup:

Soria; Dakonam, Duarte, Alderete, Alvarez; Portu, Alena, Arambarri, El Haddadi; Unal, Mayoral

Villarreal are a difficult team to back at the moment, and we are therefore leaning towards a draw in this match. Getafe have picked up points in five of their away league fixtures this term, and their recent results have been impressive, so we are backing a stalemate on Monday night.