Espanyol vs Atletico Madrid Betting Tips & Prediction

Atleti’s trip to Camp Nou in the Champions League in midweek got off to a great start with Fernando Torres giving them the lead and they had a few half-openings where they could have extended it. However the sending off of el niño soon afterwards left them on the back foot for most of the game and two Luis Suarez goals gave Barca a 2-1 lead to take in to next week’s 2nd leg. Atleti will certainly have that in the back of their minds when they go out here but we can still expect close to a full strength side from them.

Diego Simeone’s men are 6 points behind Barcelona in La Liga but with an inferior head-to-head record they are dependent on 3 Barcelona slip-ups for them to have any chance of winning the title and with only 7 games to play that looks unlikely. Atleti have won 5 of their last 6 in the league but were beaten 2-1 at Sporting Gijon in their last away match and this could be another tricky game.

Espanyol are an improving team and are unbeaten in 4 matches coming into this. They’ve won their last two at home beating Rayo Vallecano and impressively seeing off Athletic Bilbao 2-1 a few weeks ago in their last outing at the RCDE Stadium. They have a pretty good record at home to Atletico too so will fancy they can take advantage of what might be a few tired legs in the visiting camp.

Atleti are struggling with injuries at the back too with Diego Godin their only fully fit central defender so they may be a bit more vulnerable than normal. Espanyol are playing with the sort of belief right now that suggests they could cause an upset so consider backing Espanyol to win 2-1 at 14/1.