Ponferrada hunt a Villarreal hat-trick in December
The Bercianos have had Villarreal's number all year, and now the yellow submarine must come to them with three walking wounded in tow.
You know how it goes in this league: one good season buys you respect, two buys you a target on your back. Ponferrada have spent the autumn making themselves impossible to ignore, and now Villarreal arrive on 6 December with a score to settle and a treatment room full of trouble.
Look at the meetings. Villarreal 0-1 Ponferrada in May. Ponferrada 2-1 Villarreal in January. The 1-1 before that was the last time Villarreal got anything at all. And the visitors travel without Hicham Jazouli, ankle ligaments pulled, and without Íñigo Calvo and Sergio Galisteo, both twisted ankles. Three missing, and a ground that has already seen Real Madrid humbled this season. "They know exactly what we are," was the mood around the place in October, and Villarreal will find out soon enough.