Espanyol vs Barcelona
Spain – LaLiga
Date: Saturday, 4 January 2019
Kick-off at 20:00 UK/ 21:00 CET
Venue: RCDE Stadium.
Spanish champions Barcelona will be looking to open their 2020 in a positive fashion when they travel to Catalan rivals Espanyol in La Liga on Saturday night.
🗓 Fixtures MatchWeek 19 #LaLiga ✅ pic.twitter.com/TFYulPl0ln
— Match Day (@MatchDaay) January 3, 2020
Ernesto Valverde's side enjoyed an emphatic 4-1 victory over Deportivo Alavés with Barça's prolific front three all getting their names on the scoresheet. Despite sitting top of the table with 39 points from 18 games.
🙌#FridayFeeling@samumtiti ➡️ @jordialba ➡️ @antogriezmann ➡️ #Messi ➡️ @antogriezmann = ⚽
👍 Teamwork pic.twitter.com/YYUMHCeTUj
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) January 3, 2020
Espanyol finished seventh in La Liga last term, while they have not been lower than 14th since 2005-06. It has been a tough first half to the 2019-20 campaign, though, as they sit bottom of the table with just 10 points to show from their 18 matches thus far.
Espanyol vs Barcelona Prediction Line-Ups
Espanyol vs Barcelona Head-to-head (h2h)
Teams Espanyol Barcelona played so far 56 matches.
Espanyol won 6 direct matches. Barcelona won 34 matches. 16 matches ended in a draw. On average in direct matches both teams scored a 2.52 goals per Match.
Espanyol vs Barcelona Prediction
Espanyol in actual season average scored 1.62 goals per match. In 13 (86.67%) matches played at home was total goals (team and opponent) Over 1.5 goals. In 9 (60.00%) matches in season 2020 played at home was total goals (team and opponent) Over 2.5 goals.
Barcelona average scored 2.23 goals per match in season 2020. In 11 (78.57%) matches played away was total goals (team and opponent) Over 1.5 goals. In 7 (50.00%) matches played away team was total goals (team and opponent) Over 2.5 goals.
Team News
Espanyol will be without a few players themselves ahead of Saturday's clash as Sébastien Corchia (knee) remains sidelined until April at the very least. Matías Vargas sustained a sprained ankle which kept him out of action throughout December and will remain sidelined, while Victor Sánchez (knee) is also out.
As for Barcelona, Ousmane Dembele and Arthur remain on the sidelines through thigh and groin injuries respectively, while Ansu Fati is a doubt due to a hip complaint.
Marc-Andre ter Stegen is also expected to miss the match due to a knee problem, meaning that number two Neto is set to make his La Liga debut for the club between the sticks.
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