Villarreal are a team to watch in La Liga

Football trader Jason Murphy has found a team to follow in La Liga this season.

Villarreal are the best team in La Liga this season in terms of pre-season expectations versus reality.

They finished 14th after a bizarre campaign last season. Javier Calleja was promoted from managing the reserves to the top job in September 2017 and he led the team to fifth place and European football.

However, a slow start to last season saw him sacked after a run of only one win in nine games. Three draws in that run had been "won" on expected goals and it all seemed like a panicked decision.

Remarkably he was reappointed less than two months later and steered Villarreal to safety, partly thanks to the arrival of the experienced midfielder Vicente Iborra from Leicester in January.

Based on the last eight games they were the fourth-best team in La Liga and they also made it to the quarter-finals of the Europa League.

Villarreal looked unlucky in their early matches this season.

They drew 4-4 with Granada after failing to hold on to a 4-2 lead with 17 minutes remaining and then managed to lose 2-1 away to Levante despite dominating as the hosts got two soft penalties in five minutes.

Remove the first two rounds of fixtures and Villarreal would be third in La Liga, but include them and they would be first in terms of expected points.

They have a fantastic squad too. Pablo Fornals and Alvaro Gonzalez have not been missed because Raul Albiol, Ruben Pena, Moi Gomez and Andre Anguissa have all started well since their summer arrivals.

Gerard Moreno was the big summer signing the previous year for €20 million but started disappointingly with only one league goal in his first nine games.

There are no such issues this season with six goals in just seven games and he tops the goalscorer charts.

Then there is the genius Santi Cazorla. On November 29, 2015 he played his last game of that season for Arsenal, leaving them fourth, just two points off top spot. They finished second, ten points behind Leicester.

I am convinced Arsenal would have won the title had Cazorla not get injured. That is how good he is.

Cazorla's recall to the Spanish squad at the age of 34 says it all and if he stays fit, Villarreal are value to finish in the top four at 12-1.

Villarreal have no European commitments, so they can give it
everything and on Saturday they look a bet to win away at Osasuna, who are missing centre-backs David Garcia and Unai Garcia.

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