The Municipal stadium of Butarque, in Leganés, hosts this Thursday, January 4, the duel that opens the dispute for a place in the quarterfinals of the Spanish King’s Cup 2017/2018 season between Leganés and Villarreal. The kickoff is scheduled for 16h (Brasília time).
The setting will happen in round-robin games. The second appointment in Villarreal is scheduled for January 10. If there is a need, the goal balance and the number of goals scored as a visitor may be used as tiebreaker criteria.
The recent performance of Leganés

The owners of the house did not have a good end of the year. Unable to score even one of LaLiga’s last two rounds, they were beaten 1-0 by La Coruña in Galicia, and they were no less than equals, also as visitors, against Levante.
This put Leganés away from the front-runners in the Spanish league standings. With 21 points (six wins, three draws and seven losses) he is ranked thirteenth. They are six points less than Villarreal, which closes the classification zone for European competitions in sixth place.
If the difference is relatively large in this dispute, it is replicated when analyzing the fight to avoid relegation. There are also six points separating Leganés from La Coruña, eighteenth and first in the sticking region.
The medical department is likely to have an influence when coach Asier Garitano sets up the lineup to face Villarreal. Martin Mantovani (five matches in the Spanish 2017/2018 Championship, one goal) and Dimitrios Siovas (ten matches, no goal) are in injury treatment; and socks Darko Brasanac (nine games, no goal) and Alexander Szymanowski (13 matches, two goals).
In the King’s Cup, Leganés debuted against Valladollid. He won 2-1 at the rival’s home and confirmed the score for the octaves by scoring 2-1 in the return leg.

The current form of Villarreal

Villarreal had a similar table to Leganés in the last rounds of 2017 of the Spanish Championship. But he got much better results in the matches he played away from home. For the minimum score beat Celta and in the sequence surpassed Valencia, until then in the vice-leadership of LaLiga.
Not only did they reach 27 points (eight wins, three draws and six defeats), they were sixth in the standings but also slipped into fifth place with only one point in the last six.
Coach Javier Calleja, however, is still plagued by a large number of injuries. You should wait for the final word from the club doctors regarding goalkeeper Andres Fernandez (two matches in the Spanish 2017/2018 Championship); defenders Daniele Bonera (four games, no goal) and Ruben Semedo (four games, no goal); and attackers Nicola Sansone (nine games, three goals) and Leonardo Suárez (one game, no goal).
In his debut in the King’s Cup, in the fourth phase, Villarreal eliminated Ponferradina, but had more work than could be expected. Lost the first game, as a visitor, by 1 to 0. He only reversed the situation when he thrashed 3-0 in the return match.

History of the matches Leganés vs Villarreal
The teams played only four times. Leganés won two matches, lost one and there was a draw.

Leganés has the least efficient LaLiga attack. He scored just 12 goals in 13 matches. The performance is worse even than Malaga and Las Palmas, who with 13 goals scored are in the last two positions of the standings. The weak offensive power is partially offset by solid defensive posture. With 14 conceded goals, the club has the third defense less leaked from the tournament.
Villarreal, although it does not present so bad numbers, also can not be considered an offensive team. Therefore, the draw is a good guessing option for the confrontation. It has a price of 3.00 in Rivalo. Victory of the owners of the house yields 2.90 and the visitors multiply the investment by 2.60.