Barcelona vs. Villarreal 9/27/20 LaLiga Soccer Pick, Odds, and Prediction

Barcelona is hosting Villarreal at Camp Nou in a derby match of round 3 in the Spanish LaLiga.

Barcelona has gone through a lot of changes in the offseason, starting with Messi drama, hiring Ronald Koeman as their new head coach, selling a bunch of players, and so on and on. Barcelona has played 3 friendly games in the preseason, and they have won all three while scoring 7 goals along the way. Ter Stegen, Braithwaite, and Fernandes are injured, and they will miss this game. Arthur has left Barcelona for Juventus, Semedo was sold to Wolverhampton, Perez left for Roma, Rakitic went to Sevilla, Vidal left for Inter, while Suarez left for Atletico Madrid. Barcelona has signed a couple of good players, but they are a long way from a great team. Pjanic has arrived in Barcelona from Juventus, while Trincao has arrived from Braga. There are some rumors that Wijnaldum, Rudiger, and Bellerin will sign with Barcelona soon, and those transfers were to be accomplished, Barcelona would have had a decent defensive line to go with their strong attacking lineup. This is the first game of the season for Barcelona, and they need to start it with a win. With Koeman at the helm, I think Barcelona will be better defensively, while Messi could have a different role in the team this season.

Villarreal is playing well, and I enjoy watching them play because Villarreal is playing fast and exciting soccer. In their first two games of the season, Villarreal is still undefeated, and with 4 points, Villarreal is in third place in the standings. In their latest match against Eibar at home, Villarreal has been the better team with 57% of ball possession, 8 shots on goal, 4 corner kicks, 6 big chances created, and 78% of the correct passes. Villarreal was losing 0-1 in the 50th minute, but they managed to turn the game around with goals in the 63rd, and the 71st minute of the game. Villarreal has won this match 2-1. Gerard Moreno has scored 2 goals for Villarreal so far this season, while Paco Alcacer added 1 goal. Moreno and Chukwueze both have 1 assist. Guerra, Bacca, Alberto Moreno, and Pena are all injured, and they will not be playing in this match. Villarreal has signed a few good players, but the biggest signing they did is coach Unai Emery who has been among the best coaches over the last few seasons. Villarreal will also be playing in the Europa League this season. So far, Villarreal is doing well, and I hope they can stay consistent this season. The schedule is getting a bit harder for Villarreal now, and we will see how the team will react.

When playing at home, Barcelona has not lost to Villarreal in their last 12 games. Both Barcelona and Villarreal are in good form, but this is the first competitive game for Barcelona since the Champions League. When these two teams meet, we usually see plenty of goals, and there is no reason to expect anything different now, but I will still stick with Barcelona.