Villarreal have lost ground on fourth place in La Liga having been beaten 2-0 by relegation-threatened Granada at Los Carmenes.

Ikechukwu Uche came close to firing the visiting side ahead on four minutes, but after running past a number of opposition players, he failed to truly test Roberto Fernandez.

The hosts made the breakthrough through Fran Rico's penalty with 23 minutes played after Bruno had brought a Granada player down in the box, leaving the referee with no choice but to point to the spot.

Less than 10 minutes later Youseff El Arabi made it two when he latched onto Rico's through-ball and fired into the bottom corner.

Tomas Pina came close to pulling once back for the Yellow Submarine following a cross into the box, but his header was kept out by Fernandez.