Espanyol vs Sevilla

Sevilla’s pursuit of their elusive first La Liga title since 1956/57 continues this weekend as they travel to the RCDE Stadium to take on bottom-half Espanyol.

Barcelona’s 96th-minute equaliser in last weekend’s 2-2 draw in the Catalan derby broke Espanyol’s hearts. After extending their run without a clean sheet to 13 games across all competitions, ‘Los Periquitos’ head into proceedings seeking their first competitive win of 2022 (D3, L4 – 90mins only). Indeed, winless in their last five La Liga outings (D2, L3), Espanyol face the prospect of going six consecutive matches in the competition without winning for the second time this season. Adding to manager Vicente Moreno’s fears, his men have failed to beat Sevilla in any of their last seven La Liga encounters (D2, L5). Moreover, they have conceded 2+ goals in five of their previous six top-flight H2Hs, which has been the case in each of their five league fixtures this calendar year.

On the other hand, Sevilla brushed Dinamo Zagreb aside with a comfortable 3-1 first-leg win in midweek Europa League action, taking their unbeaten run in all competitions to five games (W2, D3). But even though a 2-0 home triumph over Elche last time out ended Sevilla’s run of three La Liga draws beforehand, Julen Lopetegui’s men have yet to find their feet away from home. Indeed, only 40% of their total La Liga points this season have come on the road (20/50), while they’ve won just two of their last five league travels (D2, L1). ‘Los Rojiblancos’ will still take the field in high spirits after going unbeaten in their last ten La Liga fixtures on the trot (W5, D5), six of which have been accompanied by a clean sheet.