Espanyol vs Barcelona Prediction and Football Tips
La Liga football tips – Espanyol vs Barcelona prediction
Espanyol will have to do without Victor Sanchez, who is out through suspension and that could mean a starting place in midfield for Victor Alvarez. The more defence minded Jose Canas may also come in to midfield, in an attempt to break up Barcelona’s attacking play.
Iniesta left the pitch earlier on Tuesday night against PSG but should recover in time to take his place in the Barcelona midfield. Claudio Bravo will play in goal, as he does for all of Barcelona’s league matches and as they are in such good form, the trio of Neymar, Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi will continue in attack.
Probable Line-ups
Espanyol: 4-4-2 formation: Casilla; Duarte, Moreno, Gonzalez, Arbilla; Alvarez, Lopez, Canas, Vazquez; Caicedo, Garcia
Barcelona: 4-3-3 formation: Bravo; Alves, Pique, Mathieu, Alba; Xavi, Busquets, Iniesta; Neymar, Messi, Suarez
- Espanyol have won 3, drawn 4 and lost 3 of their last 10 matches
- Barcelona have won 9 and drawn 1 of their last 10 matches
- Over the course of their previous 10 matches, Espanyol have scored an average of 0.9 goals and conceded an average of 0.8 goals per game
- Over the course of their previous 10 matches, Barcelona have scored an average of 2.5 goals and conceded an average of 0.5 goals per game
- There have been over 2.5 goals scored in 3 of Espanyol’s previous 10 matches
- There have been over 2.5 goals scored in 5 of Barcelona’s previous 10 matches
- Barcelona defeated Espanyol 5-1 earlier in the season at the Camp Nou
There seems to be no stopping Barcelona at the moment and a trip to their local rivals should not prove to be a problem. Espanyol are on an unbeaten run but have only won twice at home, in their last 6 attempts. Barcelona on the other hand, are in seemingly unstoppable form, winning 11 of their last 12 matches and drawing the other.
The last time Espanyol beat Barcelona in La Liga was back in 2009 and after having an easy ride of it against PSG in mid-week, they should be fully primed to pick off Espanyol in this one.
Barcelona to win by 2 goals at 3/1 with Bet365
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