The first Catalan Derby of the season will take place on Saturday at RCDE Stadium, where Espanyol take on giants Barcelona in LaLiga. Last season the Blaugrana won both editions of the derby, 4-0 away and 2-0 at home and superstar Lionel Messi scored two goals in each of those two matches. Espanyol have not won a league match against Barcelona since 2009. Overall, Barcelona have won the derby 123 times, while Espanyol have won it on 44 occasions.
Espanyol are having a rather poor season, they are bottom of the table after 18 matches with just two victories collected since the start of the campaign. However, their run in the UEFA Europa League was good so far, they finished top of their group and will play Wolverhampton in the first knockout round. Their last league match ended with a defeat, 2-0 at Leganes, and it left them five points away from safety. Esteban Granero is suspended for this match, while Sebastien Corchia is out injured. Matias Vargas is an injury doubt for the home side due to an ankle sprain.
Barcelona are at the top of the table after 18 matches, and they have a two-point advantage over rivals Real Madrid. However, the Blaugrana have not been looking as invincible as they were before, they have already lost three league games this season and have conceded 21 goals. Before the winter break they grabbed a 4-1 victory over Alaves, three days after the goalless draw in the derby against Real Madrid. First-choice goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen is out of contention due to a knee injury, while Ousmane Dembele and Arthur are also sidelined for the league leaders.
Probable line-ups:
Espanyol: Diego Lopez - J. Lopez, Espinosa, Calero, Vila - Darder, David Lopez, Roca, Vargas - Lei, Calleri
Barcelona: Neto - Roberto, Pique, Lenglet, Alba - Busquets, De Jong, Rakitic - Messi, Suarez, Griezmann
My prediction:
Barcelona should be able to take advantage of the poor form that their opponents have been showing, I expect a 4-1 win for the Blaugrana.
Here are the odds for the match at NetBet:
Espanyol win - 6.45
Draw - 4.80
Barcelona win - 1.44
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