Espanyol – Sociedad

Monday night football in Primera Division, with Espanyol and Real Sociedad closing out the 23rd round of the Spanish top tier.

Since Costel Galca took over as manager of Espanyol in December, things have went from bad to worse for the hosts. After two wins in his first two games in charge, Galca went on record 6 losses and 2 draws in his next 8 games in charge – the last result being a 0-6 drubbing at the hands of Real Madrid. The main problem is that the level of football is not encouraging at all and Espanyol has dropped to the 17th place in the standings.

Sociedad is not doing much better in terms of standings, as they are 14th in the table and did not record great results in the last two months, winning just twice in the last 9 games. However, if you look closer, the fact is the visitors lost just once in the last 5 matches and are coming after an impressive 2-1 victory over a solid Betis Sevilla side. It was a really good performance from Sociedad and clearly they are on the right track at the moment.

Bet on Espanyol vs. Sociedad and get your 100 Eur first deposit free bet at Ohmbet

Team news & lineups:

Espanyol will only miss Arbilla, but Sanchez and Caicedo are questionable as well. Real Sociedad can’t count on Navas, Agirretxe, Canales and Martinez. Zurutuza and Elustondo are doubtful.

Espanyol: Arlauskis – Lopez, Gonzalez, Roco, Duarte – Diop, Sanchez – Perez, Asensio, Moreno – Caicedo

Sociedad: Rulli – Elustondo, Martinez, Gonzalez, Hector – Prieto, Illaramendi, Pardo – Vela, Jonathas, Bruma

Sociedad are not world beaters, that is for sure, but they are playing decent football lately and certainly have more quality in the squad than Espanyol. I believe the visitors will snatch at least a point today, mainly because of Espanyol’s futility.

The hosts have no confidence, they are not playing well and the new coach doesn`t seem to have the tools or the experience to manage at this level. Nothing against Galca, but in his only serious job as manager so far, back in Romania, he did not show the ability to get a team out of a slump or to change the game tactically – winning trophies only because his side was miles better than anybody else in the league. Bottom line, I think he makes his team worse, as Espanyol’s current level shows and won’t be able to get out of this bad run of results.

Espanyol is weaker than Sociedad and in worse form, so I don`t believe home court advantage alone will get them a win. My tip is Real Sociedad +0,5 handicap. Obviously not the highest odds for this prediction, but the price is borderline good enough to play as a single bet. Prediction: Espanyol Barcelona – Real Sociedad 1-1.

Pick: Real Sociedad +0,5
Odds: 1.48 @ Unibet
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 3.84
Event date: 8 February