Girona will travel to Catalonia this Friday to face Espanyol in the 16th round of the 2022/23 La Liga season.
Venue: RCDE Stadium (Cornella de Llobregat
Key Statistics
Espanyol are winless in their last six league games (D2, L4).
Ten of the last 15 Espanyol matches have resulted in both teams to score.
The hosts have won just one of their last seven La Liga games when starting as pre-match favourites (D3, L3).
Girona are unbeaten in their last five league games (W2, D3).
They have scored two or more goals in seven of their last 15 matches this season.
Head to head
Girona have won four of the last seven competitive meetings between both sides. Espanyol have two wins in those games.
Latest performances in all competitions
Espanyol: W-D-W-D-L
Girona: D-L-L-D-W
Espanyol
Espanyol will look to make it five games without defeat in all competitions when they host Girona this Friday.
The hosts kept the relegation zone at bay for another week with a second consecutive Derbi Barceloní draw when they held Barcelona to a 1-1 draw. Unfortunately, the result stretched their La Liga winless drought to six games (D4, L2). Yet, they must be well boosted in confidence after the off-field drama surrounding opponent Robert Lewandowski that almost saw them boycott the match in frustration.
Manager, Diego Martínez, praised the “cool heads” and defiance of his side, who have now salvaged six draws from their 12 opening goals conceded this La Liga season. He will hope that his boys can turn their focus on getting just their third win of the season when they host one of the three newly promoted clubs, all of whom began the round four points ahead of Espanyol (17pts).
Possible Espanyol starting line-up
Benjamin Lecomte, Óscar Gil, Fernando Calero, Sergi Gomez, Leandro Cabrera, Brian Oliván, Nico Melamed, Eduardo Expósito, Sergi Darder, Martin Braithwaite, Joselu.
Injured: Keidi Bare,
Doubtful: Adria Pedrosa
Suspended: Vinicius Souza, Dani Gomez
Girona
While Espanyol continues hovering around the relegation zone, Girona are shooting for mid-table.
The visitors are in good form now and are enjoying one of their longest undefeated streaks in the top flight in half a decade since. They come into this tie unbeaten in five games (W2, D3), with all but one of those five results coming against clubs ranked higher than them.
So, a trip to lowly Espanyol should give them confidence. The visitors’ boss Míchel said his side produced both “the best and the worst” in their 2-2 draw at home to Vallecano, which drew attention again to one of Girona’s weaknesses, conceding the opening goal.
Michel will hope they can avoid such an occurrence as they attempt three consecutive wins against Espanyol in the league.
Possible Girona starting line-up
Paulo Gazzaniga, Arnau Martínez, Santiago Bueno, David Lopez, Miguel Gutiérrez, Yangel Herrera, Yan Couto, Iván Martín Núñez, Aleix Garcia, Rodrigo Riquelme, Valentín Castellanos.
Injured: Juanpe, Javi Hernandez, Jesus Carvalho
Doubtful: None
Suspended: Oriol Romeu
Odds
Prediction
Espanyol 1-2 Girona
