Preview: Leeds United vs Villarreal – prediction, team news, lineups

Sports Mole previews Saturday’s pre-season friendly between Leeds United and Villarreal, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

Saturday’s intriguing pre-season contest at Elland Road pits an unbeaten Leeds United side against a Villarreal outfit still searching for their first victory of the warm-up period.

The Whites bested SC Paderborn in a five-goal spectacle on July 26, while the Yellow Submarine are sure to be weary after contesting two friendlies as recently as Thursday.

Match preview

If pre-season is a sign of things to come for Daniel Farke‘s Leeds, the Premier League returnees ought to slot right back in with the big boys and avoid the fate that befell Southampton, Ipswich Town and Leicester City in the 2024-25 campaign.

Indeed, the Whites have polished off their best scoring boots since holding Manchester United to a creditable goalless stalemate in Stockholm on July 19, putting a combined seven goals past SC Verl and Paderborn during a Germany training camp.

A 4-1 thumping of the former preceded a 3-2 triumph over the latter last weekend, where Joel Piroe, Wilfried Gnonto and new signing Lukas Nmecha all made the net bulge behind closed doors, but fans will now flock to watch Farke’s men in action.

Saturday’s visit of Villarreal represents Leeds’ one and only exhibition game at Elland Road this summer, as the Whites then do battle with seven-time European champions AC Milan at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on August 9 – their final warm-up match before the serious business begins.

Already welcoming nine new faces to the club this summer – including a couple of academy talents – Leeds’ transfer business has slowed somewhat as August approaches, but a move for Leicester’s Bilal El Khannouss has been mooted after Marseille appeared to win the race for Feyenoord’s Igor Paixao.

As Leeds pursue a third straight friendly triumph in front of the home faithful, 2020-21 Europa League winners and 2021-22 Champions League semi-finalists Villarreal remain in search of that elusive first success of the summer.

Marcelino‘s men were the form team of the latter stages of the 2024-25 La Liga campaign – winning each of their final six games of the season to rubber-stamp a Champions League placement – but their exhibition form is certainly not European elite-worthy.

Indeed, the Yellow Submarine played out high-scoring draws with Basel (3-3) and St. Gallen (2-2) first up, before successive losses to Sporting Lisbon and Genoa, as well as a goalless stalemate with Real Oviedo on the same day as the Genoa defeat.

Marcelino split his squad into two for Thursday’s pair of friendlies, and the 59-year-old’s troops have little time to recuperate before a taxing sojourn to England, where an even more daunting fixture awaits after Saturday’s.

Villarreal have a date with Arsenal booked in the diary for August 6 at the Emirates, which comes four days before a reunion with Unai Emery against Aston Villa, and Oviedo then await again for their La Liga opener on August 15.

Leeds United friendly form:

Villarreal friendly form:

Team News

The Leeds faithful should catch a glimpse of almost every notable name this weekend, as Farke is working with a fully-fit squad barring Sam Greenwood (muscle) and summer signing Sebastiaan Bornauw (quad)

The Whites added Brazilian goalkeeper Lucas Perri to their ranks on the same day as their triumph over Paderborn, and the former Lyon shot-stopper should make his first appearance in a Leeds kit this weekend, likely swapping with Illan Meslier midway through the match.

Fellow new boys Anton Stach, Jaka Bijol, Gabriel Gudmundsson, Sean Longstaff and Nmecha should also take to the Elland Road turf for the first time, but Patrick Bamford is out in the cold as he seeks a move elsewhere.

On Villarreal’s end, 21-year-old attacker Ilias Akhomach has not played since suffering a devastating cruciate ligament injury in November, but the ex-Barcelona man is now in the final stages of his rehabilitation.

An appearance on Saturday is surely out of the question, though, so new recruits Tajon Buchanan and Alberto Moleiro should scrap with Yeremy Pino and Arsenal flop Nicolas Pepe for starts out wide.

Pino is one of a handful of Villarreal players from the 2021-22 UCL squad still donning the yellow shirt, alongside veteran Spaniards Gerard Moreno and Dani Parejo, both of whom could make the first XI too.

Leeds United possible starting lineup:

Meslier; Bogle, Bijol, Struijk, Gudmundsson; Ampadu, Gruev; James, Nmecha, Gnonto; Piroe

Villarreal possible starting lineup:

Junior; Foyth, Navarro, Kambwala, Pedraza; Buchanan, Parejo, Gueye, Pino; Danjuma, Moreno

We say: Leeds United 2-2 Villarreal
 

Previous pre-season results are hardly a good indicator for future contests, and on paper, Saturday’s showdown is in the unpredictable bracket.

Leeds possess numerous attacking heavyweights ready to cause some damage to the Villarreal defence, but the Yellow Submarine can bite back just as hard in an entertaining stalemate.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

 

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