Villarreal 4-1 Espanyol: Mikautadze kickstarts rout against woeful Espanyol | OneFootball

An acrobatic Georges Mikautadze finish put Villarreal on course to claim a 4-1 win against a lacklustre Espanyol, moving level on points with Atlético Madrid in the process.

Winless in their last three league games heading into Monday night’s clash, the Yellow Submarine returned to winning ways in LaLiga against an Espanyol side who have seen their hopes of qualifying for Europe slip away over the past few weeks.

There were chances aplenty for both sides throughout an enjoyable first half at the Estadio de la Cerámica and Omar El Hilali thought he’d found an early opener, but a foul in the buildup saw the Moroccan’s strike ruled out.

Villarreal made their opportunities count with Georges Mikautadze burying a fabulous finish past Marko Dmitrović in the 35th minute, before an own-goal by José Salinas doubled their lead before the break.

The goals kept flowing in the second half, with Nicolas Pepe and Alberto Moleiro taking advantage of a sloppy Espanyol defence to move Villarreal level on points in the LaLiga standings with Atlético Madrid.

A late header from captain Leandro Cabrera proved to be nothing but a consolation for Espanyol, who extend their winless run to six games and now sit 11 points below the top four, with the chasing pack enjoying better form.

As it happened

Espanyol enjoyed a bright start at the Estadio de la Cerámica on Monday and looked to have taken an early lead in the 11th minute when a Ty Dolan cross from the left was turned home by Omar El Hilali.

But a shove in the box in the buildup saw the evening’s referee disallow the Moroccan’s opener, with VAR upholding the decision.

Still, Espanyol pushed forward with Dolan proving lively on the left, although his curling strike just after the half-hour mark flew off-target.

That would prove to be the point the momentum truly swung, with Georges Mikautadze bundling home an acrobatic opener just a minute later after Tajon Buchanan nodded Sergi Cardona’s teasing cross into the Georgian’s path.

Espanyol failed to respond to conceding and soon found themselves trailing by two, with Jose Salinas turning Alberto Moleiro’s cross past his own goalkeeper.

The visitors’ defence remained leaky after the break, with ex-Arsenal man Nicolas Pepe able to jink past substitute Clemens Riedel with ease and fire into the bottom-right corner to put the result beyond any doubt.

Somehow, there was still time for bad to turn to worse for els blanc-i-blaus, who conceded their fourth goal of the evening before the hour mark when Mikautadze teed up Alberto Moleiro for his ninth goal of the season, curled home with precision from inside the box.

There would be time for a late consolation for the visitors, though, with captain Leandro Cabrera nodding home inside the final five minutes from Cyril Ngonge’s corner.

Analysis: Leaky defence puts Espanyol at risk of free-fall

Espanyol were one of the surprise packages of the first half of this LaLiga season – but since Christmas, results have fallen away fast, and Manolo González’s side look no closer to finding any answers.

Perhaps things would have played out differently had VAR not upheld the referee’s decision to deny Omar El Hilali’s opener, but it was a remarkably leaky defence that cost the Catalan side in Villarreal on Monday.

Georges Mikautadze’s opener was well-worked, but Jose Salinas’ unfortunate own goal truly put Espanyol on the back foot – and González’s half-time team talk was clearly not absorbed by his players, who remained lax after the break and allowed the Yellow Submarine to double their two-goal buffer before the hour mark with even shoddier defensive work.

Espanyol would, in a league table based on the last five games, sit rock bottom.

There is work to do for els blanc-i-blaus when they return to the Ciutat Esportiva Dani Jarque – and the question now for González is how to start rediscovering his side’s fantastic pre-Christmas form.