Espanyol vs Barcelona Betting Tips

The two sides also meet in the Copa del Rey last 16 so Espanyol are going to have to get used to playing their neighbours from across town and if they can get a result here that would be a massive boost heading into the cup matches.

Espanyol are down in 13th place and haven’t been quite as strong as they were last season. They recently changed managers with Constantin Gâlcă coming in during mid-December. He won his first two matches against Levante and Las Palmas but tasted defeat for the first time in midweek, when his side were beaten 2-0 at Sevilla.

A goal from Leo Messi and two from Luis Suarez helped Barcelona to a comfortable 4-0 win against Real Betis on the same night and extended Barca’s unbeaten run to 17 matches in all competitions. They have improved defensively from the opening two months of the season and will be determined to control this game from the outset and lay down a marker ahead of the Copa del Rey tie.

Espanyol have only scored 16 goals in 17 matches this season in the league and were thumped 6-0 at home by Real Madrid earlier in the campaign. They will certainly be cautious here and will be desperate to avoid any kind of repeat of that scoreline against their nearest rivals.

Barca have won to nil on all of their last 3 visits to the Power8 Stadium and have only conceded 2 goals in total during their 6 league trips to the ground. They have completely dominated Espanyol in the league over the past 6 seasons, winning 10 of the 12 matches and only conceding 3 goals so even an Espanyol goal is something of a rarity in this derby.

Given that Barcelona look good value at 10/11 to win this game to nil. It’s unlikely to be an absolute hammering though given the hosts will be conscious of the games coming up and will want to go into them without their confidence being shattered.

Therefore consider backing Barcelona to win 2-0 at 11/2