Barcelona vs Espanyol Preview & Prediction | 2024-25 Spanish Primera
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It is the Catalan derby this weekend and there will be incentive and motivation for Espanyol to try and harm Barcelona after a magnificent start to the season for the Blaugrana.
KICK-OFF DATE/TIME: Sunday 3rd November, 2024 - UK – 3:15pm / US ET – 10:15am / US PT – 7:15am
HOW TO WATCH ON TV: UK – Premier Sports / US – ESPN have the exclusive rights to La Liga games in the USA, so Barcelona vs Espanyol may be televised on one of their affiliated channels
HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: UK – Premier Sports / US – ESPN+
BARCELONA PREVIEW: BRILLIANT BLAUGRANA
In the month of October, Barcelona managed five victories across all competitions and they scored 21 goals in the process with victories over Young Boys and Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League as well as Alaves, Sevilla and Real Madrid in La Liga.
Their most recent outing was indeed against Madrid in the league last weekend in the first Clasico of the season and Hansi Flick’s intense and impressive Barca side hammered them by four goals to nil with a brace from Robert Lewandowski as well as goals from Raphinha and Lamine Yamal.
ESPANYOL PREVIEW: STRUGGLING ESPANYOL
Following promotion to the top-flight last season, former Espanyol B team coach Manolo Gonzalez was appointed to replace Luis Garcia, who departed to become Qatar assistant coach.
The Catalans have been steady at the start of this season but they begin this weekend’s round of fixtures sitting just outside of the bottom three and the relegation places. They most recently hammered San Tirso by four goals to nil with four second-half goals in the Copa del Rey in midweek.
BARCELONA TEAM NEWS: SEVERAL ISSUES
Barcelona have a long injury list for this weekend with Marc-Andre ter Stegen sidelined alongside the likes of Ronald Araujo and Ferran Torres.
PREDICTED XI (4-2-3-1): Inaki Pena; Kounde, Pau Cubarsi, Inigo Martinez, Alex Balde; Marc Casado, Pedri; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Raphinha; Lewandowski
UNAVAILABLE: Ter Stegen (Injured), Ronald Araujo (Injured), Christensen (Injured), Marc Bernal (Injured), Ferran Torres (Injured)
QUESTIONABLE: Eric Garcia (Injured)
ESPANYOL TEAM NEWS: COUPLE OF DOUBTS
Espanyol have a couple of key first-team injury doubts for this Catalan derby against Barcelona with defender Fernando Calero and midfielder Edu Exposito potentially unavailable.
PREDICTED XI (4-4-2): Joan Garcia; El Hilali, Kumbulla, Leandro Cabrera, Brian Olivan; Alvaro Tejero, Kral, Pol Lozano, Jofre Carreras; Javi Puado, Cheddira
UNAVAILABLE:
QUESTIONABLE: Fernando Calero (Injured), Edu Exposito (Injured)
BARCELONA VS ESPANYOL PREDICTION
Barcelona will continue to put their foot down after a remarkable October and the expectation is that they will run rampant here. There is also now a chance for them to definitely extend their lead at the top-of-the-table because of the postponement between Valencia and Real Madrid due to the deathly flooding that has taken place in Valencia. A comfortable and potentially heavy home win is to be expected at Estadi Olympic Lluis Companys.
BARCELONA VS ESPANYOL TIP: BARCELONA TO WIN -1 HANDICAP