La Liga: Deivid urges Cordoba team-mates to focus ahead of Villarreal clash

Cordoba defender Deivid has stressed the need for his team to put last week's painful 2-2 draw with Elche behind them and look ahead to Sunday's game with Villarreal.

The Andalusian club are still looking for their first win since returning to the Primera Division and Miroslav Djukic's side looked to be heading for that first win when they went 2-0 up at Elche with half an hour to go.

They instead had to make do with a point after conceding twice late on.

It was the third time this season Cordoba have let a lead slip, but Deivid believes the team are heading in the right direction.

He believes they are not far away from securing their first win, which he hopes will arrive with the visit of Villarreal to the Nuevo Arcangel stadium.

"It will be difficult but we need to win our first game at home," he told a press conference, carried by Marca.

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"The game with Elche could have been a turning point when we went 2-0 up so drawing the game was very hard to take."

Cordoba remain bottom of the table but Deivid pointed out they are not far behind their rivals.

"Even with everything bad that has happened to us, we are still just three points from exiting the relegation zone," he added.

"Even though everyone is thinking negatively and everything is looking black for us, the team is playing better with every week. Now we know how we want to play and we have taken on Djukic's idea of football."

Villarreal ended a winless streak of three games with last weekend's hard-fought 2-1 win over Getafe, but suffered a setback in mid-week in the Europa League, twice surrendering a lead to draw 2-2 with Borussia Monchengladbach.

The result leaves their chances of qualifying for the last 32 of the tournament hanging in the balance.

"We were left with a bitter feeling because we could have got the three points given how well we played," said Argentine forward Luciano Vietto on the club's official website.

"Now in the league we need to do what we did against Getafe and win in Cordoba. We struggled last week but we got three valuable points and we have to continue to do that.

"It won't be easy because Cordoba need to win and will go all out to do that, but we also have our strengths, and we also need the points so we can stay high up the table."

Villarreal have no fresh injury concerns, but Cordoba cannot field loanee Aleksandr Pantic for contractual reasons.

Midfielder Patrick Ekeng is set to return after missing the game with Elche after reporting back late from international duty.