Following the departure of Steven Gerrard in the middle of October, Aston Villa have made a solid start to life under the tutelage of Unai Emery, who won two of his first three competitive games in charge of the club before the World Cup break.
Villa suffered a 4-2 defeat in the EFL Cup third round against Manchester United on November 10, but the Spaniard steered his new side to successive Premier League victories against the Red Devils and Brighton & Hove Albion, and they have subsequently moved up to 12th in the table.
Emery has since had time to work with the vast majority of his squad – as only four players jetted off to Qatar at the beginning of the World Cup – and they have experienced a mixed set of results during the mid-season break.
Villa were on the wrong end of a 3-1 scoreline against Championship outfit Cardiff City on November 30, before playing out a 2-2 draw with Brighton eight days later. Emery and co then returned to winning ways with a narrow 1-0 victory against Chelsea in Abu Dhabi, courtesy of a seventh-minute strike from John McGinn.
Villa’s friendly fixture against Villarreal – a side they have never previously faced – will be followed by one final warm-up match against an unnamed Premier League club behind closed doors before they return to top-flight action at home against Liverpool on Boxing Day.
Villarreal appointed former Barcelona and Real Betis boss Quique Setien as their new head coach on October 25, a mere 24 hours after Emery took the Aston Villa hotseat.
The 64-year-old endured a difficult start to his reign with the Yellow Submarine, losing his first three matches by an aggregate score of 6-0. However, Villarreal secured back-to-back wins
before the World Cup break, with a slender 1-0 La Liga victory away against Espanyol followed by an emphatic 9-0 success against sixth-tier outfit CD Santa Amalia in the first round of the Copa del Rey.
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Villarreal, who currently sit ninth in La Ligaand just three points behind the top four, have taken part in two mid-season friendly fixtures so far this month, with a 2-1 defeat against Fenerbahce in Istanbul followed by a 4-3 victory against fellow Turkish giants Galatasaray last Tuesday.
The Spanish side raced into a three-goal lead within the first 32 minutes against the latter courtesy of strikes from Francis Coquelin, Johan Mojica and Samuel Chukwueze, and they were 4-1 up at the interval with 19-year-old Jorge Pascualalso getting his name on the scoresheet, before Gala then scored two consolation goals in the final half-hour.
Setien and co will be looking to build momentum and secure another victory in their penultimate warm-up match against Villa before their final friendly fixture against Serie A leaders Napoli on Saturday. Villarreal resume their 2022-23 campaign with a Copa del Rey second-round clash against fourth-tier side CD Guijuelo on December 20.
