Villarreal Not to be Underestimated

This is an article from our guest writer Chris Rivers, a sports writer.

Villarreal not to be Underestimated but Definitely Not Favourites for Quarter-Final Clash

Last Friday Arsenal discovered their path back to Rome and while we weren’t as lucky as Manchester United to draw Porto, the Gunners were given the runners-up prize of Villarreal. It is an old cliché but at this stage of the Champions League there are no easy teams left. However, I think everyone is as happy as you can be with drawing the Yellow Submarine of Spanish football.

Having had a bit of time to sink in though people seem to be coming to the conclusion that Villarreal are the favourites to win. This comes despite English football being stronger than Spanish football at this point in time and the second leg being held at the Emirates Stadium. I by no means see Arsenal as underdogs going into this tie and in fact would be shocked if they didn’t go through to the semi-final.

Under Manuel Pellegrini, Villarreal have enjoyed a sustained period of prominence in La Liga, always qualifying for either the Uefa Cup or Champions League and last season finished runners up to Real Madrid in La Liga, ahead of Barcelona. As Arsenal know from personal experience, Villarreal are no pushovers and Manchester United will also testify they are a tough nut to crack after their two goalless draws against them in this season's competition.

However, working in the industry that I do, I have been fortunate enough to see Villarreal a couple of times this season in Primera Liga action and have to say I haven’t been that impressed. Most recently I saw them throw away a two goal lead at Atletico Madrid to lose 3-2 in a game which could have been a lot worse for them if it wasn’t for their goalkeeper, Diego Lopez. Their defence, which is usually the strongest element of Villarreal, looked non-existent as Atletico managed to have 32 shots on goal according to the stats, 14 of which were on target.

A look through their squad shouldn’t frighten Arsene Wenger’s side either because whilst the likes of Marcos Senna, Santi Cazola and Giuseppe Rossi are good players, they don’t have many players of that quality to cause the Gunners too many problems. Arsenal should have the stronger squad by then with Cesc Fabregas, Theo Walcott and Emmanuel Adebayor hopefully all back to full fitness for at least the second leg.

The ties will be a couple of difficult games and I don’t expect there to be too many goals between the two sides come the end, although I do expect Arsenal to come out on top. The Gunners should take plenty of confidence into the tie and try to ignore the rubbish being written that they are underdogs over the two-legs, instead focusing on setting up a dream semi-final with Manchester United.

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