Espanyol vs Villarreal Preview & Prediction | 2024-25 Spanish Primera
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It has turned into a reasonable start to the season for Espanyol, following their promotion last year, as they now welcome a Villarreal side that were humbled by Barcelona at the weekend up to Catalonia this week.
KICK-OFF DATE/TIME: Thursday 26th September, 2024 - UK – 6:00pm / US ET – 1:00pm / US PT – 10:00am
HOW TO WATCH ON TV: UK – Premier Sports / US – ESPN have the exclusive rights to La Liga games in the USA, so Espanyol vs Villarreal may be televised on one of their affiliated channels
HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: UK – Premier Sports / US – ESPN+
ESPANYOL PREVIEW: SURPRISINGLY STRONG
Luis Garcia led Espanyol to promotion back to the top-flight last season, winning the Segunda Division playoffs by coming from behind against Real Oviedo. The Catalans lost him, though, as he became Tintin Marquez’ assistant coach with the Qatari national side but B team coach Manolo Gonzalez has enjoyed an impressive start to life at the RCDE Stadium.
The Catalans went to the Bernabeu at the weekend and were leading Real Madrid at the half-time interval before they were then blown away by four goals to one in the second-half. They had started their season with back-to-back 1-0 defeats before collecting seven points from matches against Atletico Madrid, Rayo Vallecano and Alaves.
VILLARREAL PREVIEW: CHAOTIC BUT FUN
It has been a really entertaining start to the season for Villarreal as they try and get themselves back into UEFA competition this year under the management of former Valencia boss Marcelino. The Yellow Submarine have been dramatic and entertaining to watch with three second-half stoppage-time winning goals already during this campaign.
However, their chaotic and knife-edge football was taken full advantage of by league leading Barcelona at the weekend as they suffered a 5-1 thrashing at El Madrigal at the weekend with Hansi Flick’s Blaugrana turning on the style. Their six games so far this season have consisted of a combined total of 25 goals.
ESPANYOL TEAM NEWS: ANOTHER MAN BACK
Espanyol have been dealing with a couple of defensive injury issues this season but both Leandro Cabrera and Fernando Calero are now fully fit and available.
The hosts do remain without experienced midfielder Edu Exposito but they are able to name an unchanged eleven for this one with no fresh injury concerns or suspension issues.
PREDICTED XI (X-X-X-X): PREDICTED XI HERE
UNAVAILABLE: Edu Exposito (Injured)
QUESTIONABLE:
VILLARREAL TEAM NEWS: POTENTIAL CHANGES
After being obliterated the other day, it would not be a massive shock to see Marcelino make a few changes to his Villarreal side for this trip to Barcelona.
They do still have a few injury issues for this one, though, too as defenders Willy Kambwala, Juan Foyth and Alfonso Pedraza remain unavailable alongside Gerard Moreno.
PREDICTED XI (4-4-2): Conde; Kiko Femenia, Bailly, Costa, Sergi Cardona; Yeremy Pino, Santi Comesana, Dani Parejo, Alex Baena; Pepe, Ayoze Perez
UNAVAILABLE: Kambwala (Injured), Juan Foyth (Injured), Alfonso Pedraza (Injured), Gerard Moreno (Injured)
QUESTIONABLE:
ESPANYOL VS VILLARREAL PREDICTION
It is a bit of a surprise that Espanyol have made themselves so competitive after finishing fourth in the second-tier last season, losing their manager and then having a slow summer transfer window. There will be a concern that Villarreal’s victories have been by such fine margins that they are actually not reflecting their performance level. The two sides have lacked a little bit of control but, with their home advantage, it may well be good value to side with the hosts for this one.
ESPANYOL VS VILLARREAL TIP: DOUBLE CHANCE – ESPANYOL TO WIN OR DRAW
