Espanyol – Sevilla

Espanyol Barcelona and FC Sevilla will take the field in the 36th round of the Spanish La Liga, with the match having much more meaning for Espanyol than for the visitors.

Costel Galca’s Espanyol is relatively safe from relegation, with two teams and 4 points between them and the red zone. Still, the hosts are still not free of worries, particularly given their poor form, with just 2 points in the last 5 matches. The hosts need to pick up at least a point at home against a Sevilla side that comes into this match as unmotivated as possible.

Not only has Sevilla nothing left to fight for in La Liga, but they have to play this match between the two legs of the Europa League semifinals. The visitors will try to rest most key guys in order to have them fresh on Thursday against Shakhtar after 2-2 in Ukraine, while also trying to avoid possible injuries. What`s more, Sevilla has not won a single road game this season in La Liga (0-9-8), so a victory today is not looking very likely.

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Team news & lineups:

Team news for Espanyol say that Lopez, Arbilla and Abraham will not play, while Caicedo is a doubt. Sevilla won’t be able to count on Krohn-Dehli, Reyes and Andreolli – but besides these three, Unai Emery is expected to give a few more players a rest, the favorites being Gameiro, N’Zonzi, Banega, Kolodziejczak or Mariano. Still, Sevilla will most likely field a solid lineup.

Espanyol: Pau – Gonzalez, Duarte, Roco, Duarte – Sanchez, Diop, Asensio – Perez, Moreno, Burgui

Sevilla: Rico – Coke, Carrico, Rami, Tremoulinas – Cristoforo, Krychowiak – Vitolo, Iborra, Konoplyanka – Llorente

Sevilla could not beat worse teams than Espanyol away from home this season, so it`s hard to see them winning today with no motivation and without a few key players. However, I`m not so sure they will lose.

The visitors must still respect the competition, will field a competitive team and surely don`t want to play the second leg against Shakhtar on the back of a loss. Despite not winning on the road this season, they were able to snatch plenty of draws and I would not be surprised if they will get another one here today. They are still the better team and Espanyol (who is in dreadful form) would not be upset at all with a point. In fact, knowing Sevilla’s situation and aware of their own poor form, Espanyol might decide to settle for a “sure” draw instead of forcing a win and risking losing everything.

My tip is a draw, but I will secure the prediction in case Espanyol manages to take the three points. I will back a draw on the Espanyol win no bet market (void bet in case Espanyol wins, winning bet in case of draw). Prediction: Espanyol Barcelona – FC Sevilla 1-1.

Pick: Draw – Espanyol win no bet
Odds: 1.91 @ Ladbrokes
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 7.28
Event date: 1 May