Villarreal vs Almeria preview - Marcelino ready for testing month

Posted Saturday, October 18, 2014 by PA

Villarreal host Almeria on Sunday to kick off a month that coach Marcelino believes will be "a good reference" to see what his team are capable of achieving this season.

The Yellow Submarine lie seventh in the Primera Division table and after the visit of Almeria they travel to Sevilla and then host Valencia - the two teams that have shown the most promise of challenging Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid for the top spots in the table. Either side of those two games Villarreal will also have to cope with Europa League clashes home and away to FC Zurich.

"Right now we are concerned with Almeria and then these runs of games in the league and the Europa League, which are going to be very difficult," Marcelino told reporters.

"This month is going to be a good reference for us. We were quite close to getting something from our games with Madrid and Barcelona, but we didn't have luck on our side and didn't take the chances we had to beat them (Villarreal lost 2-0 to Los Blancos and 1-0 to the Catalans).

"Now we've got games with two other teams that are ahead of us and we'll be able to see whether or not we are close or far away from them."

First of all, Marcelino and his side must get past Almeria, who have lost just once in their last five games.

"They are a strong team away from home, very quick and with a great counter-attack," said Marcelino of Francisco Rodriguez's side, who currently 11th in the table in their second year back in the top flight.

"We will have to make the right decisions and not give them any advantage, which means attack well and with purpose, and make sure we don't give the ball away and fuel their counter-attacks. Also, they are strong at set pieces because of Verza, who is a good dead-ball taker. They play with a lot of pace and are strong in the tackle, so it's going to be a very physically demanding game for us."

Villarreal are set to welcome back left-back Jaume Costa after more than a month on the sidelines but are still without defenders Mateo Musacchio and Antonio Rukavina.

Almeria, meanwhile, have a clean bill of health for the match.