Villarreal may possess some defensive vulnerabilities, but they also possess a real threat in the final third, and we think that their firepower could help them bounce back from Sunday's defeat by claiming a narrow win over Espanyol on Thursday.
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Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Espanyol win with a probability of 42.33%. A win for Villarreal had a probability of 30.27% and a draw had a probability of 27.4%.
The most likely scoreline for a Espanyol win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.02%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.56%) and 2-0 (7.96%). The likeliest Villarreal win was 0-1 (9.76%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.92%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with a 6.9% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted a 1-2 win for Villarreal in this match.