Malaga vs Villarreal - prediction, team news, lineups

By Matt Law | 15 Sep 2026 09:45, Last updated: 15 Sep 2026 09:49

Villarreal's search for their first victory of the 2026-27 campaign will continue on Thursday evening when they head to Estadio La Rosaleda to tackle Malaga.

The Yellow Submarine are down in 18th spot in the La Liga table, picking up just two points from five matches, while Malaga are 17th, collecting three points from their opening five games.

Malaga have a record of three draws and two defeats from their opening five league matches of the season, with three points leaving them down in 17th spot in the division.

Juan Francisco Funes' side secured promotion back to this level through the 2025-26 Segunda Division playoffs, and they are still waiting for their first victory of the campaign.

The White and Sky Blues will enter this match off the back of a 1-1 draw with Celta Vigo, and they have actually shared the points in three of their last four games.

Malaga have struggled badly in the final third of the field this season, only scoring twice, which is the second-worst attacking record behind Valencia (one).

The White and Sky Blues have faced Villarreal on 32 occasions throughout history, and it is the Yellow Submarine that lead the head-to-head record 12 victories to 10.

Villarreal have won five of their last seven matches against Malaga, but it was 1-0 to the latter when the pair last locked horns in April 2018.

There is no getting away from the fact that it has been a tough start to the season for the Yellow Submarine, who will enter Thursday's fixture off the back of four straight losses in all competitions.

Inigo Perez's side opened their La Liga campaign with successive draws against Racing de Santander and Atletico Madrid, but they have lost their last three in the league against Alaves, Deportivo La Coruna and Real Betis to sit down in 18th spot in the table on two points.

Villarreal were also beaten 3-2 by Borussia Dortmund in their Champions League league stage opener, so another loss here would mean five in a row.

The Yellow Submarine finished third in Spain's top flight last season, with an excellent campaign seeing the team pick up 72 points from their 38 matches.

Malaga currently have a number of first-team absentees, with Julen Lopete, Fernando Calero, Moussa Diarra, Diego Murillo and Aaron Ochoa out through injury, while Adam Aznou, Carlos Dotor and Alex Pastor need to be assessed, having missed out against Celta through illness.

Chupe has scored once for Malaga this season, and the 22-year-old will again feature in the final third of the field here.

There should also be starts in the forward areas for Joaquin Munoz and David Larrubia.

As for Villarreal, Juan Foyth is out with an Achilles injury, but the Yellow Submarine are otherwise in strong shape in terms of their squad.

Head coach Perez is expected to resist the temptation to make wholesale changes to his side following the loss to Real Betis, with Gerard Moreno set to retain his starting role.

Nicolas Pepe and Santi Comesana are also expected to continue in the first XI.

Herrero; Rafita, Recio, Galilea, Salinas; Merino; Larrubia, Martinez, Lorenzo, Munoz; Chupe

Gulacsi; Mourino, Navarro, Veiga, Romero; Pepe, Gueye, Comesana, Buchanan; G Moreno, Mikautadze

Villarreal's winless run will come to an end at some stage, and we are expecting that to occur on Thursday against a Malaga side that are also struggling to put a victory on the board.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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