Espanyol vs Atletico Madrid

RCDE Stadium forms the backdrop for a ‘make or break’ La Liga encounter between Espanyol and Atletico Madrid. 

A 2-1 defeat at Mallorca right before the international break heightened the pressure on relegation-battling Espanyol as they spent a two-week hiatus from club football only one point clear of La Liga’s bottom three. Indeed, consistency has plagued Espanyol’s campaign, with Manolo Gonzalez’s side piecing together a patchy ten-game league run (W3, D4, L4), where each result differed from the previous. However, ‘Los Periquitos’ proved their capacity to deal with the league’s best, beating Real Madrid 1-0 on this ground in early February. That result forms part of Espanyol’s eight-game unbeaten La Liga run on home turf (W3, D5) – their best such streak in the top flight since 2017. Furthermore, they’ve only lost once in their last five home league H2Hs against Atletico Madrid (W2, D2).

Atletico Madrid’s recent struggles against Catalonian minnows hardly bode well as they bid to bounce back from a 4-2 home loss to Espanyol’s crosstown rivals Barcelona, which saw them spurn a two-goal cushion beyond the 70th minute. As a result, they spent the international break six points adrift of La Liga’s top spot and will be out to end a two-game losing league streak, including a 2-1 defeat at Getafe on their last league travel. Four consecutive losses in all competitions can’t inspire much confidence as Diego Simeone’s men aim to beat Espanyol after three straight draws, including a scoreless stalemate in this season’s reverse fixture.