Espanyol – Barcelona, La Liga Predictions

Espanyol has a new coach. His name is Abelardo – the former coach of Alaves. The change was logical and expected. Espanyol was last in the league with only 10 points, and in the meantime they played very good in the Europa League, so the problem is more psychological, because Espanyol really has good players if we really compare them to teams that would struggle to survive.

Barcelona did well with Alaves at home, confirming their good form at Camp Nou. It was as if in El Clasico were more focused on not losing. Clearly, the form of the team is not the same as in past years. Valverde doesn’t seem to be the right man for the Catalans in the long run, but his work will be evaluated at the end of the season. Barca are currently 1st in the league with 2 points ahead of Real Madrid and this is the most important.

 Expert view : Although with a new coach, Espanyol is unlikely to be able to change everything in 1 game. Here, they mainly need motivation and a better psychological attitude to significantly raise their chances of winning the match. However, it is also a Catalan derby, so the charge is different. Despite all this, we expect Barcelona to start the game strong and score a quick goal. Espanyol’s defense is utterly disordered, and players like Messi, Suarez and Griezmann can easily benefit. Prediction – Barcelona to score in the 1st half at 1.55.