Racing Santander vs Villarreal Betting Odds, Tips, Predictions, Preview 16th August 2026

Racing Santander start the season as favourites to land the LaLiga crown. They launch their title bid this coming Sunday at home in an opening day fixture with Villarreal at Estadio El Sardinero.

We expect to see some solid dedication from both Racing Santander and Villarreal as starting a season with a defeat is an undesirable outcome for anyone's morale.

Racing Santander are not a high scoring team these days, as they only found the back of the net six times in the last ten outings. That is an average of just 0.6 goals per game, as they conceded 20 goals. They managed zero clean sheets in these matches.

Villarreal scored 21 goals, conceded 13 and held on for a clean sheet in zero of their last ten matches.

Betting on the draw would have earned you a sound profit the last time Racing Santander played Villarreal. The pair finished even in a 1-1 match, where no one managed to get the upper hand.

Racing Santander vs Villarreal Prediction

Racing Santander Form

In their last three matches, Racing Santander won 4-1 against Real Valladolid, before recording a draw in a 1-1 match against Malaga. They were back on top last time out, defeating Cadiz 4-1. Racing Santander are without a win in their last six LaLiga matches on home soil, which produced a record of zero draws and six defeats, in which they conceded 14 and scored two goals.

Villarreal Form

Villarreal suffered a couple of disappointments in their last three matches as they were run over by Sevilla in a 2-3 defeat. Rayo Vallecano also proved too hard to handle as they won 2-0, before Villarreal were able to strike back in a 5-1 win against Atletico Madrid. Villarreal claimed just one win from the last six away games in the LaLiga. They also drew three and were defeated two times, as they were outscored by seven goals to five.

Villarreal and Racing Santander always seem to tread carefully, when taking on each other, and history makes under 2.5 goals the call on Sunday.

Racing Santander vs Villarreal Squads

Racing Santander Squad

Lopez will select the starting XI for the upcoming match against Villarreal from the following players (the statistics in the brackets represent goals scored and matches played in the LaLiga this season):

Alvaro Jimenez (0/0), Laro Gomez (0/0), Simon Eriksson (0/0), Aitor Crespo (0/0), Alvaro Mantilla (0/0), Carlos Sanchez (0/0), Clement Michelin (0/0), Facundo Gonzalez (0/0), Inigo Sainz-Maza (0/0), Jorge Salinas (0/0), Manu (0/0), Marco Carrascal (0/0), Pablo Ramon (0/0), Pedro Felipe (0/0), Samuel Calera (0/0), Andres Martin (0/0), Diego Fuentes (0/0), Gustavo Puerta (0/0), Maguette Gueye (0/0), Mario Solorzano (0/0), Sergio Martinez (0/0), Yassir Zabiri (0/0), Asier Villalibre (0/0), Diego Diaz (0/0), Giorgi Guliashvili (0/0), Inigo Vicente (0/0), Jaime Mata (0/0), Juan Carlos Arana (0/0), Marco Sangalli (0/0), Santi Franco (0/0).

Villarreal Squad

Below is the full team squad of Villarreal. The manager Perez will pick his starting XI against Racing Santander from these players:

Luiz Junior (0/0), Peter Gulacsi (0/0), Alex Freeman (0/0), Juan Foyth (0/0), Logan Costa (0/0), Pau Navarro (0/0), Rafa Marin (0/0), Santiago Mourino (0/0), Sergi Cardona (0/0), Willy Kambwala (0/0), Alberto Moleiro (0/0), Carlos Macia (0/0), Daniel Parejo (0/0), Mahamoud Barry (0/0), Pape Gueye (0/0), Renato Veiga (0/0), Santi Comesana (0/0), Tajon Buchanan (0/0), Thomas Partey (0/0), Alex Fores (0/0), Ayoze Perez (0/0), Georges Mikautadze (0/0), Gerard Moreno (0/0), Ilias Akhomach (0/0), Nicolas Pepe (0/0), Pau Cabanes (0/0), Tani Oluwaseyi (0/0), Thiago Fernandez (0/0).

Racing Santander vs Villarreal Team News

Villarreal face a list of four absentees from the squad ahead of their next match this coming Sunday against Racing Santander. Pape Gueye, Daniel Parejo, Georges Mikautadze and Pape Gueye can't be called upon by Villarreal, as they are all sidelined with a suspension.

Racing Santander vs Villarreal Lineups

Racing Santander vs Villarreal H2H

It finished all square on when Racing Santander last faced Villarreal. With both denying to back down, the scoreboard said 1-1 in the end. The best betting odds on a draw at full-time with the bookies are at 12/5. All in all, Villarreal have a fine reading on Racing Santander in previous seasons with a 5-4-1 advantage going into this match. The bookies have Villarreal to win this match at best price odds of 13/10.

Racing Santander vs Villarreal Results

A high scoring match is a fairly rare occurrence when Racing Santander face Villarreal as under 2.5 goals happened in eight times in the last ten matches. Under 2.5 goals is best priced at odds of 10/11 with the bookies.

Racing Santander vs Villarreal Betting Tips

With another LaLiga season only just beginning to take form, we are still a bit in the dark as to who will dominate the scoring charts for both Racing Santander and Villarreal. Accordingly, we have listed some of the players who are expected to be getting it on for each team this season.

Racing Santander won seven of their previous 10 matches across all tournaments at Estadio El Sardinero. They drew one and lost two as well, while Villarreal won three of their last 10 games away. They drew three and lost four. Goals are usually flowing for Racing Santander on home soil these days, and at both ends of pitch. Both teams found the back of the net in eight of their last 10 matches here. In contrast, both teams to score happened seven times for Villarreal in their last 10 league games away from home.

Both teams not to score was a winning bet six times in the last ten encounters between Racing Santander and Villarreal. Under 2.5 goals came out eight times in these with Racing Santander managing an average of 0.6 goals, and Villarreal 1.4 goals a game. Over 2.5 goals came out six times in the previous ten matches across all tournaments for Racing Santander, who scored an average of 1.7 goals along the way. In the last ten games for Villarreal, six of them had more than 2.5 goals, and they scored an average of two times goals per game themselves.