Real Sociedad vs Espanyol prediction: SPAIN: LaLiga betting tips on match 2022-09-17 16:30.
Real Sociedad atoned for last weekend’s surprise defeat at Getafe with a 2-1 midweek Europa League win against Cypriot club Omonia, but finding consistency remains a puzzle for manager Imanol Alguacil with every Sociedad game this season producing a different result to the previous one when encompassing all competitions.
Granted, tough La Liga (LL) assignments against AtlĂ©tico Madrid (D 1-1) and Barcelona (L 1-4) stood in the way of back-to-back victories, but the result against Getafe – which Alguacil acknowledged was deserved for Sociedad – raises questions about their ability to get the job done against Espanyol and enter the international break in the top half of the table. The midweek triumph in the absence of Mikel Oyarzabal and Umar Sadiq, in which Alguacil made seven changes to the starting XI, should give him plenty of options.
When contemplating that all but one of Sociedad’s last nine wins across all competitions were accompanied by a one-goal margin, Espanyol should consider themselves right in the hunt after the spirit and grit they showed when almost completing a three-goal comeback against Sevilla. Instead, they were made to lament conceding the opening goal of a game prior to the break for a fourth time this LL season.
All four of their LL points have been earned as travelling underdogs which should be one source of encouragement, but another defeat would condemn Espanyol to their worst six-game start to a league campaign (by points gained) in ten years, which should be worrying after being relegated in 2019/20 and coming close to dropping yet again in 2021/22.
Players to watch: New Sociedad signing Takefusa Kubo opened the scoring in his last home appearance against Espanyol – for Mallorca in a Copa del Rey victory. As well as second half goals in his two most recent LL outings, Espanyol’s Martin Braithwaite also registered a double for Barcelona the last time he took on Sociedad.
Hot stat: Espanyol have not won a single competitive game this calendar year when a player from either team was sent off, something that’s proven to be a semi-regular occurrence (D2, L7).