Hardly an inch was given in the opening exchanges, with the best chance of a combative, stoppage-strewn opening half-hour falling to Takefusa Kubo, who found himself with an opportunity to fire towards the bottom-right corner, only for Luiz Júnior to pull off a fine save and preserve parity.
Just a minute later, Umar Sadiq then fired wide when through on goal, as the Villarreal keeper closed him down quickly.
Given his earlier miss, it was not without a cruel sense of irony that Kubo contributed to Villarreal’s opener on 33’.
His misjudged ball to Brais Méndez on a breakaway handed over possession, and after Kubo then saw his attempted clearance intercepted by Santi Comesaña, Villarreal’s own #14 found Tajon Buchanan on the left flank. The Canadian burst away and played in a pinpoint ball for Pérez to convert at the far post.
Just prior to half-time, Luiz Júnior stood tall on two more occasions, palming out an Aritz Elustondo header at the end of a rasping free-kick from Sergio Gómez, just before Méndez forced him into a stop at his near post.
That momentum didn’t continue immediately after half-time though, and Villarreal doubled their lead on 57’ when a breakaway saw Pérez given the freedom to find Moleiro, and he fired into the top-left corner from the D.
Despite their predicament, Sociedad responded almost immediately, and halved the deficit when Kubo took advantage of a botched clearance from the area, intercepting the ball and finding Carlos Soler, who fired into the top-left corner of the Villarreal net to put the hosts back into contention.
And with newfound momentum, La Real almost regained parity at the three-quarter mark, when Gonçalo Guedes’ strike to the top-right corner forced Luiz Júnior into a full-stretch save.
Sociedad fought valiantly to the end, and with just five minutes of the 90 remaining, Ander Barrenetxea fired a beautiful free-kick into the same corner that Soler found.
But still the drama was not over, and with just two minutes of added time remaining, Moleiro smashed in low from the corner of the box after a botched corner clearance, moving Villarreal back within two points of leaders Barcelona.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Ayoze Pérez (Villarreal)