Let's say they faced one of the teams like Liverpool, Leverkusen or Roma and eliminated it as well then I would start respecting Villarreal's chance for the title more. By the way I respect their great effort in the 2020/2021 season which resulted in their winning the title. But they were managed by Emery then and they were doing good everywhere. Now I'm not so sure.
I think, Sevilla success last season means that at least Sevilla has a good history in the Europa League and as such, it is at least reasonable that last season Sevilla could still succeed in getting the Europa League trophy. But regarding Villarreal, the reality is that Villarreal doesn't have good results in La Liga from season to season and also, in the Europa League the reality is that Villarreal doesn't have as good a history as Sevilla. Therefore, I think there is no good reason to make Villarreal favorites to win the title this season because ya, I think it is clear that only Liverpool and Bayer Leverkusen are the best teams this season in the Europa League.