Espanyol V Sevilla
Sunday 18th August 2019 – 18:00 Kick-Off
Spanish La Liga
Pick: Espanyol or Draw (Double Chance)
Odds: 67/100
Bookmaker: MarathonBet
 |
1 | X | 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21/10 | 51/20 | 13/10 |
*(All betting odds displayed were correct as of 16th ugust 2019 at 12:50)
Preview: These two teams finished alongside one another upon the conclusion of last season’s La Liga. Yet it was Sevilla who prevailed in both encounters the two faced each other, winning 1-0 at the RCDE Stadium, the home of Espanyol. Will the visiting team be celebrating once again in a fixture they have claimed maximum points from in each of the past two seasons?
Spanish Football Betting with 22Bet
Espanyol Preview – Hosts underrated despite strong finish to last season?
Some superb form in the closing stages of last season’s La Liga ensured that Espanyol would make a long-awaited return to European football for the forthcoming campaign. This being just reward for going the final nine fixtures without losing (W5 D4) to secure a seventh place finish, earning them an early berth into the qualifying rounds of the Europa League.
Our first example of Espanyol attempting to manager this extra workload comes on Sunday when they begin their La Liga campaign at home to Sevilla, less than three days after overcoming Swiss side Luzern in the Europa League. The fact the latter side were dispatched without too much fuss, with David Gallego’s Espanyol comfortably winning both legs by the same 3-0 scoreline, could mean any potential impact regarding fatigue is minimal.
There could also be several fresh faces for this opener. Fernando Calera and Ander Itturaspe were signed to help shore up the defence, while Argentine Matias Vargas will bolster an attack that no longer comprises of the recently departed Borja Iglesias. The new arrivals will hope to hit the ground running in a fixture Espanyol were narrowly beaten 1-0 in last season. That was one of five defeats incurred at home (W11 D3 L5, GF28 GA22), with the team producing far more consistency on their own patch having collected over twice as many points in said fixtures.
Best Espanyol Bet – Win or Draw (Double Chance) @ 67/100 MarathonBet? Espanyol only fell to a single defeat in their last nine league matches as the hosts (W5 D3 L1) and although that solitary loss was suffered at the hands of their matchday opponents, Sevilla, it is still a strong sequence of results that warrants plenty of respect.
Sevilla Preview – New-look side to make it a hat-trick of wins in this fixture?
It was clear that Sevilla underachieved last season, and that applied to both their performances domestically and in European competition. Therefore it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that the summer was one of major overhaul as the club boldly attempts to right the wrongs of a 2018/19 campaign that won’t live long in the memory.
In La Liga, it was evidently apparent where most of the problems arose. To finish with the fourth-best home record but only rank as the twelfth-best away side (W5 D5 L9, GF23 GA27) speaks volumes about the area of their game requiring most attention. Sevilla lost seven of their final ten away league games (W2 D1 L7), scoring one goal or fewer in 13 of their last 14 away fixtures in La Liga. Both are astonishing statistics for a club with such lofty ambitions.
Unsurprisingly, there was a fair amount of chopping and changing to the playing squad in the summer. Too many for us to cover, in fact. The attack has been dismantled, though, with Wissam Ben Yedder and Pablo Sarabia both moving to France and forward Rony Lopes one of those coming the other way from Monaco. There were a whole host of other useful additions, although it is uncertain how quickly some of them will bed in to their new surroundings.
Best Sevilla Bet – Sevilla Under 1.5 Goals @ 13/20 Betway? As already highlighted, Sevilla became a drab attacking outfit on their travels last season. There was a flurry of goals to begin with, hitting Rayo Vallecano for four and Levante for six early on, but there can be no escaping the fact Los Rojiblancos failed to score more than one goal in 13 of their last 14 away league games – including in this same fixture last season, when winning 1-0.
Espanyol V Sevilla Key Facts:
- Espanyol registered 11 of their 14 La Liga victories in 2018/19 in home fixtures (W11 D3 L5).
- Sevilla finished the last league season by losing seven of their final ten away encounters (W1 D2 L7).
- Each of the previous two La Liga meetings at Espanyol have been won by Sevilla, who were 1-0 victors last season.
Betting Summary
The hosts are being slightly underrated here, I feel. Espanyol were a decent and usually very dependable outfit at home last season, and finished the term by losing just one of nine games inside their RCDE Stadium (though that one loss was, admittedly, versus Sevilla, 1-0). The Europa League qualifying rounds has also enabled them to clock up some vital competitive minutes in preparation for the new season without being overly exerted.
That Sevilla will improve on what was a below par overall performance last time around seems likely, after a lot of effort went into reinvigorating the squad over the summer. Until we witness them in action and see said improvements for ourselves, putting blind faith in a team that were simply too untrustworthy away from home seems precarious. This is, after all, a team which had lost seven of its last ten La Liga games on the road.
Neither side were involved in many high-scoring encounters towards the tail end of last season, meaning we could be in store for a tight affair. What we do know is the following: Espanyol displayed a very clear preferance for playing at home in La Liga, whereas Sevilla largely toiled on their travels. Therefore the hosts opening with a positive result of some form is the selection.
