Espanyol vs Barcelona Prediction: Expect a productive game

On 14 May 2023, the 34th round match of the Spanish football championship between Espanyol and Barcelona will take place at the stadium Cornella El Prat.

Espanyol continues to struggle to stay in Spain's top division but has recently been playing as if they were in the middle of the league so that every new game can be a carnival. The Catalans score a lot and concede even more, but they do it all while sitting in the relegation zone. Furthermore, they are no closer to getting out of trouble, as in the last ten meetings, they only won once against Getafe 1:0, once shared the points with Cadiz 0:0, and in the remaining eight cases, they always lost. Now they hold only 19th place in the league standings.

At the end of the current season, Barcelona have no tournament goals. The Blues have been eliminated from cup competitions a long time ago, and the only thing that can prevent them from the title race is a miracle in the Primera, which no one believes anymore. There is a high probability that at the end of the 34th round, the Catalans will celebrate the 27th title in the club's history because, in the case of victory over Espanyol, they will be unattainable for the pursuers. That said, Xavi's men have not been impressive in recent times - in their last seven official games, they have only picked up one convincing 4:0 win over Betis, a narrow 1:0 win over Atletico Madrid and Osasuna but no further victories.

Barcelona is a step away from another league title, and a derby with Espanyol lies ahead. The last two meetings between the opponents have ended in a draw, but now Xavi's side should score three points and do so with style and beauty. It's not that they should always play like this, as they often play pragmatically, but the Blues and Whites have recently made almost every encounter a celebration. The visitors should take advantage of this by being productive in front of the net and attacking; therefore, a bet on Barcelona's victory is in order.

Particular attention should be paid to the statistics of Espanyol, which rarely produces a draw. In the last 11 meetings involving the Blues and Whites, they scored 36 goals (3.27 goals per game on average). Moreover, in the previous nine games, they conceded 22 goals (2.20 per game on average). On this basis, the best option for the prediction seems to be a total over 2.5, and separately it is worth betting on the individual total of Barcelona over 1.5.

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