Villarreal will be looking to bounce back from a damaging defeat in LaLiga on the weekend, as they take on Austria Vienna in the Europa Conference League on Thursday.
The Yellow Submarine extended their winless run in the league to four games after a 1-0 defeat to Real Sociedad, while the hosts secured a vital victory over arch-rivals Rapid Vienna with a 2-1 away win.
Match preview
Despite suffering 3-0 and 5-0 defeats in the build-up to the 329th Wiener derby, Austria Vienna picked up a huge, confidence-boosting win over their fierce city rivals, thanks to first-half goals from Muharem Huskovic and Dominik Fitz.
The win sees Die Veilchen jump to fifth in the Austrian Bundesliga, after a topsy-turvy start to the season saw them quickly fall away from Red Bull Salzburg and LASK in the race for the title.
It has been nine years since the capital club last won their domestic league, despite having won 24 since their inception in 1974, the second-most in the competition's history.
Indeed, Austria Vienna have had six different managers to start the last six campaigns, turning to former FC Koln and Borussia Dortmund assistant manager Manfred Schmid to oversee their first attempt at the Conference League group stages.
A heavy defeat to Villarreal last Thursday put what could be an irreparable dent in their goal difference, sitting bottom of the group with one goal scored and nine conceded.
If they cannot pull off an unlikely result, they will be desperate to keep the score down this time around, if they are to keep in touch with the rest of the group.
After a 4-0 win over Elche at the start of September, Villarreal were the only side in Europe's top five leagues yet to concede a goal, and were looking like one of the strongest sides in the intriguing race for the Champions League spots in LaLiga
Since then, after draws to struggling Sevilla and Cadiz, along with defeats to direct contenders for the top four in Real Betis and Real Sociedad, the club from Castellon seem to be sinking to the lower reaches of the top half once again under their Basque coach.
Only mustering 0.22 in expected goals on Sunday, their lowest figure since March, Unai Emery's men looked bereft of ideas against a solid defensive unit, even with star striker Arnaut Danjuma back in the side.
In fact, the most dangerous player for the visitors was summer signing Jose Luis Morales, coming on at half time and taking three of Villarreal's five shots on the day. Still with only one league start to his name since his move from Levante, many are starting to question the manager's reluctance to use the 36-year-old in domestic fixtures.
Indeed, with his hat-trick in the 5-0 thrashing of Thursday's opponents last time out, El Comandante now has six goals and two assists in five Conference League outings for his new club, and will be looking to add to his tally for a Villarreal side who are enjoying European football much more than their domestic fixtures at the moment.
Team News
The hosts managed to navigate the weekend's feisty derby without picking up any fresh injury concerns, meaning Schmid could pick a similar side to the one that gained that crucial result.
Andreas Gruber came back into the side after missing last week's meeting with Villarreal, and could keep his place after providing an important assist.
For the visitors, talisman Gerard Moreno has reportedly suffered a setback in his injury rehabilitation process, and now looks likely to miss another month of action, in a crushing blow for the Yellow Submarine.
Similarly, Juan Foyth will miss out again here with a knee injury, but Alberto Moreno could get some valuable minutes to his name, after making the bench on the weekend for the first time since his anterior cruciate ligament injury back in March.
Austria Vienna possible starting lineup:
Fruchtl; Martins, Galvao, Muhl, Ranftl; Fischer, Braunoder; Jukovic, Fitz, Gruber; Huskovic
Villarreal possible starting lineup:
Jorgensen; Monica, Cuenca, Mandi, Fuente; Baena, Morlanes, Capoue, Chukwueze; Danjuma, Morales
We say: Austria Vienna 1-3 Villarreal
After a convincing win over their Austrian opposition last week, it is hard to look past Villarreal for this one, even after their uninspiring defeat to Real Sociedad on the weekend.
With home advantage for Austria Vienna, however, and needing to protect their goal difference, we are expecting to see a slightly more competitive affair.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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