Preview: Villarreal vs Levante - prediction, team news, lineups

Villarreal will be aiming to build on their first victory of the 2026-27 La Liga campaign when they welcome Levante to Estadio de la Ceramica on Sunday night.

The hosts are 14th in the La Liga table, picking up five points from their opening six matches, while Levante are 15th, collecting five points from five games.

Match preview

There is no getting away from the fact that it has been a disappointing start to the campaign for Villarreal, with the Yellow Submarine, who finished third in Spain's top flight last season, only managing to win one of their opening seven matches.

That success came last time out, with Inigo Perez's team entering this contest off the back of a much-needed 3-1 success over Malaga.

In La Liga, Villarreal have a record of one win, two draws and three defeats, with five points leaving them down in 14th spot in the division.

Perez's side had been on a four-game losing run in all competitions before triumphing last time out, and they will now be hoping the result against Malaga can be a springboard.

Villarreal have won 23 of their previous 36 matches against Levante in all competitions, only suffering nine defeats in the process.

Levante have lost six of their last seven league games against Villarreal, but they did record a 2-0 win over the Yellow Submarine in April 2022.

The visitors will enter this match off the back of a 4-2 defeat to Barcelona, but they have picked up five points from their last four games in Spain's top flight.

The Frogs have a record of one win, two draws and two defeats from their five league matches this season, with five points leaving them in 15th spot in the table.

Luis Castro's side had been due to take on Athletic Bilbao in La Liga on Wednesday evening, but the match was called off at the final moment due to a waterlogged pitch.

Levante finished 16th in Spain's top flight last season, so there is clear room for improvement during the 2026-27 campaign.

Villarreal La Liga form:

Villarreal form (all competitions):

Levante La Liga form:

Team News

Villarreal will again be without the services of Juan Foyth due to an Achilles injury, while Santi Comesana is expected to miss out with the issue that forced him off in the latter stages of the first period against Malaga.

Pape Gueye scored twice off the bench against Malaga and is now expected to be introduced into the starting side for this match.

Villarreal could otherwise be unchanged, having finally managed to put three points on the board, with Alberto Moleiro potentially again featuring through the middle.

As for Levante, Karl Etta Eyong will again miss out due to a thigh problem, while Alejandro Primo continues to be sidelined due to a shoulder injury.

Ivan Romero scored off the bench against Barcelona and is set to return to the starting side.

Meanwhile, there should be a return to the midfield for Enzo Bardeli.

Villarreal possible starting lineup:

Gulacsi; Freeman, Navarro, Veiga, Cardona; Akhomach, Saliba, Gueye, Buchanan; Moleiro, Perez

Levante possible starting lineup:

Ryan; Toljan, Dela, Mandi, Sanchez; Garcia, Sotelo, Bardeli, Brugue; Romero, Ratkov

We say: Villarreal 2-1 Levante

Villarreal will be looking to make it back-to-back wins, and we are expecting the Yellow Submarine to put another three points on the board in this contest.

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