Espanyol vs Celta Vigo Preview: Team News & Prediction
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This one promises to be a potentially entertaining encounter at the RCDE Stadium in Barcelona as an out of form Espanyol side face a Celta Vigo side in need of fluency.
Kick-off date/time:
How to watch on TV: UK – Premier Sports / US – ESPN have the exclusive rights to La Liga games in the USA, so any game may be televised on one of their affiliated channels
How to watch online: UK – Premier Player / US – ESPN+
Espanyol preview: Faltering Espanyol
Following the takeover of the club by Burnley owner Alan Pace last summer, Espanyol have been challenging for European qualification throughout the campaign but the Catalans have drifted from the top four and the UEFA Champions League qualifying spots.
Manolo Gonzalez' side, who started so well, now come into this one on the back of a 4-1 defeat to Villarreal in their most recent outing, making it four losses on the bounce and that means the visitors are now winless in their last six matches in La Liga.
Celta Vigo preview: Slight drift
Celta Vigo come into this one on the back of collecting just one point from their last three matches in La Liga as they struggle to balance their domestic and European commitments in Spain's top-flight.
The Galicians' most recent outing saw them struggle to a 2-1 loss to Osasuna at Balaidos last weekend, meaning that they have now collected just one point from their last three matches, dealing a blow to their hopes of repeating European qualification.
Espanyol team news: Javi Puado out
Javi Puado has been injury prone for a while and, after fighting back from a serious knee injury, he has suffered a similar issue and is once again sidelined for this weekend.
Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Dmitrovic; El Hilali, Fernando Calero, Leandro Cabrera, Jose Salinas; Urko Gonzalez, Pol Lozano; Pere Milla, Edu Exposito, Dolan; Roberto Fernandez
Unavailable: Javi Puado (Injured)
Questionable:
Celta Vigo team news: Nothing fresh
Alvaro Nunez joined Celta from Elche on the final day of the winter transfer window but he picked up a groin injury just a couple of days after that and he is now sidelined for the visitors.
Predicted XI (3-4-2-1): Radu; Javi Rodriguez, Starfelt, Marcos Alonso; Sergio Carreira, Ilaix Moriba, Miguel Roman, Javi Rueda; Fer Lopez, Hugo Alvarez; Borja Iglesias
Unavailable: Alvaro Nunez (Injured)
Questionable:
Espanyol vs Celta Vigo prediction
Claudio Giraldez and his Celta side have been one of the most entertaining teams to watch in Spanish football in the last couple of years. Espanyol may well resort to trying to score their way out of their indifferent form of late. As a result, this may well be quite a fun watch for the neutral in Barcelona and so both teams scoring may well be a good bet for this one this weekend.
Espanyol vs Celta Vigo tip: Both teams to score
