Espanyol vs Valencia 02/11/19

2 November 2019

Dead-last Espanyol side will try to kick-start their La Liga (LL) home campaign this weekend when they face an out-of-sorts Valencia team at the RCDE Stadium.

Four defeats in their last five LL outings (W1) and a disastrous overall record (W2, D2, L7) sees the hosts stuck in the relegation zone. The ‘Periquitos’ have lost all five of their opening LL home fixtures, remaining the only side in Spain’s top-flight that is yet to pick up a single point on home turf. What’s more, their tally of one goal scored at home is LL’s low, with Espanyol drawing a blank in both of their last league home matches. Also, Pablo Machin’s men have been on the back foot at halftime in each of their five home defeats so far. It gets worse for Espanyol, as they’ve lost two of three of their previous LL home H2Hs with Valencia without scoring a goal (W1).

Three of the visitors’ last four matches in all competitions have ended with the identical 1-1 scoreline (L1), including their midweek’s home clash against Sevilla. Not exactly a force to be reckoned with when away from home, the Bats have secured just 28% of their total league points away from the Mestalla (W1, D1, L3). Except for a 1-0 success against Atheltic Bilbao, the Oranges have failed to keep a clean sheet in the first half in all of their remaining four LL road trips, conceding a total of ten goals across those fixtures. Also, just 33% of Valencia’s total 15 LL goals scored have come away from home (5), with three of them coming inside the opening 27 minutes.