Overview
Espanyol are in poor form with a streak of 6 consecutive matches without a win. During that time, they lost 3 and drew 3. The attacking ability of coach Manolo Gonzalez's team is having problems when they only scored 2 goals in the last 6 matches and failed to score 4 times.
Since the beginning of the season, Espanyol has only scored 17 goals in La Liga, the second worst record in the league. Before round 20, the Catalan team ranked 18th with 16 points.
However, Real Valladolid is even below Espanyol in 19th place in La Liga. However, the recent achievements of coach Paulo Pezzolano's team are relatively positive.
In La Liga, the home team at Estadio Jose Zorrila won 2/3 of the most recent rounds against opponents Valencia and Real Betis. Valladolid also kept a clean sheet in both of these matches.
Not only is Real Valladolid in better form, they also have the advantage in terms of head-to-head record between the two teams.
In La Liga, Real Valladolid won 4 of the last 5 meetings, including a narrow victory in the first leg this season. Valladolid will likely once again make Espanyol regret.
Valladolid's biggest weakness is their poor away record, having lost eight of their nine games since the start of the season. However, their recent improvement in defence, with two consecutive clean sheets, is a positive sign for the team.
Human resources situation
Edu Exposito and Leandro Cabrera have fully recovered from their injuries and are ready to play for the home side, but Espanyol will still be without key players Carlos Romero and Jose Gragera.
On the other side of the front line, Juanmi Latasa of the away team will return after suspension. Valladolid will only be missing one player due to injury, Mamadou Sylla.
Expected lineup:
Espanyol: Joan Garcia, El Hilali, Kumbulla, Leandro Cabrera, Brian Olivan, Pol Lozano, Alex Roca, Alvaro Tejero, Kral, Jofre Carreras, Javi Puado.
Valladolid: Hein, Lucas Perez, Juma Bah, Jorge Sanchez, Rosa, Kike Perez, Juric, Mario Martin, Anuar, Marcos Andre, Raul Moro.
The match between Espanyol and Valladolid takes place at 3:00 a.m. on January 18 (Vietnam time).
