Espanyol vs Real Madrid prediction: SPAIN: LaLiga betting tips on match 2025-01-31 20:00.
[p]Espanyol have lost only one of their last six La Liga games following last weekend’s 1-1 draw at Sevilla (W1, D4), so are inching themselves towards safety, although they still ended the matchday in the relegation zone. Manager Manolo González was happy with the draw however – just their second point away from home this season – saying that points on the road will “bring us closer to staying up”.[/p]
[p]But points at home could be more important, and the battling Parakeets have picked up 90% (18 of 20) of theirs this term at the RCDE Stadium – the highest such proportion at a La Liga team’s ground in 2024/25 to date (W5, D3, L3). Increasing that percentage might be tough against in-form leaders and reigning champions Real Madrid, yet Espanyol have won two of the last five H2Hs they’ve hosted (L3).[/p]
[p]Fresh from beating Brest 3-0 in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday to secure their safe passage into the knockouts, Madrid head to Barcelona having won their last four La Liga fixtures following a 3-0 victory over Real Valladolid last weekend. Ominously, Carlo Ancelotti’s men have scored an average of 3.25 goals per game across those last four league outings, suggesting they’ll be hard to stop here.[/p]
[p]Adding weight to that viewpoint, Los Blancos are unbeaten in their last four La Liga away fixtures (W3, D1), scoring at least twice in each of those games. They’ve also been ruthless this term when travelling to sides currently in the bottom five, winning all three such league matches so far, with each of those encounters producing exactly three goals. [/p]
[p]Players to watch: Roberto Fernández has been in the thick of the action since arriving at Espanyol on loan from Braga, getting the winner against Valladolid (2-1) and then picking up a booking against Sevilla. Rodrygo’s brace opened and completed the scoring against Brest for Madrid in midweek, and he’s netted three times in seven league appearances against Espanyol, with two of those goals arriving between the 30th minute and half-time.[/p]
[p]Hot stat: There have been exactly four yellow cards shown in four of Espanyol’s last five home league fixtures (W2, D3).[/p]
[p][i]Written by John Pennington[/i][/p]