Samuel Chukwueze will certainly give his best to help Villarreal put an end to its eight-game winless run in the La Liga against Eibar at the Estadio Municipal de Ipurua on Sunday.
Villarreal’s winless run is bettered only by Eibar’s run of nine games without a win but while the former are chasing a top-four finish, the latter are simply headed for relegation.
After losing the reverse fixture against Villarreal 2-1, a loss for Eibar would make it the first time ever they have lost both ties to the Yellow Submarine in the same La Liga season.
Villarreal have not won a La Liga game since thumping Celta Vigo 4-0 early January, bagging just five points from a possible 24 since then which is really poor from the top-four hopefuls.
Against rivals Valencia last time out, Unai Emery’s side were undone in the dying minutes of the game after a Carlos Soler penalty and a Goncalo Guedes injury-time winner saw Los Che win 2-1.
Fortunately for Emery, their poor league form has not affected their Europa League endeavours, Villarreal comfortably beat Dynamo Kyiv in midweek thanks to goals from Pau Torres and Raul Albiol.
Still, it is not all doom and gloom for seventh-placed Villarreal.
They have avoided defeat in their last seven top-flight encounters against Basque opposition which bodes well for this weekend.
Meanwhile, Chukwueze will be gunning for his tenth career La Liga goal in 84 games when Villarreal face Eibar, having scored five times in his maiden campaign, thrice last term and once this season.
By Oluyemi Ogunseyin