Overview
Villarreal is experiencing a disappointing start under Perez, with no wins in their first 5 matches in all competitions. Meanwhile, Real Betis is in impressive form and will aim for a positive result when returning to La Liga.
Perez came to Villarreal with a reputation built during his time working at Rayo Vallecano. He once helped this team finish eighth in La Liga in the 2024-2025 season, before taking them to the Conference League final. However, the early days at Villarreal did not go as expected.
Villarreal started the season with 2 2-2 draws against Racing Santander and Atletico Madrid. After that, they suffered consecutive defeats against Alaves and Deportivo La Coruna. This series of results prevented Perez from winning his first victory as Villarreal coach.
Difficulties continue to appear in the Champions League. In his first match in this arena as Villarreal coach, Perez witnessed the team suffer a 2-3 defeat to Borussia Dortmund in Germany. Santiago Mourinho scored with a header, while Villarreal also benefited from an own goal in injury time. However, those efforts were still not enough to help the Spanish team win points.
Perez is facing an important week. Villarreal will successively meet Real Betis, Malaga and Levante before La Liga takes a 3-week break. This is the time for this coach to seek his first victory and help the team regain stability.
Head-to-head history with Betis gives Perez some hope. In the last 5 times leading the team against Betis, he has never suffered a defeat, with 1 win and 4 draws.
However, Betis is currently a challenge not easy to overcome. Manuel Pellegrini's team has won 4 out of 5 official matches at the beginning of the season. In particular, they just defeated Real Madrid 1-0 in La Liga, before continuing to win 3-2 at Lille in their first match in the Champions League.
Betis was led by Lille twice but both times found an equalizer thanks to a double by Marc Bartra. After that, Troy Parrott continued to shine with 2 goals on his Champions League debut, including a decisive goal that brought victory to the Spanish team.
Impressive form helps Betis rank fifth in La Liga before round 5. After positive results against big opponents, Pellegrini's team is in good spirits before the away trip to Villarreal.
Betis also has a fairly good head-to-head record against Villarreal recently. Last season, they won 4 points in 2 encounters with this opponent. In the most recent away match to La Ceramica, Betis was once 2 goals down but Antony scored a double to help them regain 1 point.
That result extended Betis' unbeaten streak at Villarreal's stadium to 4 matches, including 2 wins and 2 draws. The last time they lost here was a 0-2 defeat in October 2021.
Expected lineup:
Gulacsi, Freeman, Navarro, Veiga, Cardona, Comesana, Saliba, Pepe, Gerard, Moleiro, Perez.
Real Betis: Valles, Bellerin, Bartra, Natan, Garcia, Roca, Bernal, Antony, Isco, Fornals, Parrott.
The match between Villarreal and Real Betis takes place at 2:00 AM on September 15 (Vietnam time).
