Villarreal climbed out of the bottom three of the Spainsh La Liga on Monday thanks to a 3-0 win over Sporting Gijon.

The win lifted Villarreal over Sporting in the league table and also above Granada, who slipped into the bottom three after appointing Abel Resino as their new coach Monday.

The win was the Villarreal's first triumph in the league since November and marked the first triumph for new coach Jose Molina, who replaced Juan Carlos Garrido at the helm of the club nicknamed "the Yellow Submarine" just before Christmas.

Villarreal showed a greater urgency throughout the game than their rivals and after a dull first half, they got their reward after 57 minutes when striker Marco Ruben, showed great determination to fight his way through the Sporting defense before beating goalkeeper Juan Pablo with a low shot.

Two minutes later Borja Valero, who has been linked with a possible move to Atletico Madrid, scored with a powerful shot from outside of the penalty area and the win was sealed in injury time when Bruno Soriano connected with another shot from outside of the 18 yard box.

The win means Villarreal have 19 points from their first 19 matches of the season, but given that the club is negotiating to sell Brazilian striker Nilmar to Santos and that Giuseppe Rossi will miss the rest of the season with a knee injury, the club will need to make signings before the end of January to ensure they have enough firepower to climb away from danger.