Real Betis hit back to deepen Villarreal's crisis

The result was Betis' third consecutive victory in all competitions and lifted Manuel Pellegrini's side into third place on 12 points after five league matches.

Villarreal, meanwhile, remain without a win under Inigo Perez and have collected just two points from their opening five La Liga games. The Yellow Submarine now find themselves in the relegation zone despite qualifying for the UEFA Champions League last season.

Betis created the first opportunity of the match when Hector Bellerin tested Peter Gulacsi from the edge of the penalty area.

Villarreal soon responded and came close to opening the scoring. Gerard Moreno delivered a dangerous ball from the left for Santi Comesana, but Alvaro Valles made an excellent save to push his close-range effort onto the post.

The hosts thought they had finally broken the deadlock when Tajon Buchanan fired past Valles after Carlos Romero's pass found him in the area. However, VAR ruled out the goal for offside in the build-up.

Villarreal continued to attack and eventually got their reward around the half-hour mark. Renato Veiga headed the ball across goal and Moreno was waiting six yards out to finish and give the home side the lead.

Betis reacted well to falling behind and were back level within 10 minutes.

Abde Ezzalzouli forced Gulacsi into a save, but the goalkeeper could only push the ball into the path of Cucho Hernandez, who fired home the rebound to make it 1-1.

Pellegrini's side then completed the turnaround shortly before half-time. Gulacsi parried a deflected corner into the path of Natan Bernardo de Souza, who reacted quickly to score into the empty net.

Betis continued to threaten after the break as Ezzalzouli again played a key role, finding Hernandez in the penalty area, although Gulacsi was equal to his effort.

Hernandez later had another good chance to extend Betis' lead when he broke clear, but his shot went wide of the far post.

Villarreal were unable to find a way back into the contest as Betis managed the second half well and protected their narrow advantage.

The win means Betis have now won four of their first five La Liga matches and five of six games in all competitions, continuing their strong start to the season.

For Villarreal, however, the problems are mounting. Perez is still searching for his first victory since replacing Marcelino, with his side facing an early fight to climb away from the bottom three.