Espanyol vs Las Palmas Prediction, Betting Tips & Preview

Preview

Joel Amorim Dec 17, 2015 @ 01:29 am

Next Saturday, 19th of December 2015, a rejuvenated UD Las Palmas will travel to Catalunya to measure forces with Espanyol at Estadi Cornellà El-Prat for Round 16 of the Spanish Liga BBVA.

Quique Sétien’s arrival at Gran Canaria last October was a breath of fresh for the islanders. Over a short period of time, the Santander born head coach refurbished UD Las Palmas’ game from top to bottom and the style of football they currently display is extremely attractive.

Last round, UD Las Palmas had to dig very deep in order to obtain the three points at home against Real Bétis, but a last minute goal by the Brazilian wonderkid Willian José helped the islanders to return to winning ways. Los Amarillos were in control throughout the match with some impressive ball possession percentage and with a considerable amount of goal attempts, both in the first and in the second half.

The win over the Andalusia team inspired Quique Setién’s men, who clinched a 1-1 draw at Anoeta against Real Sociedad and secured a place in the next round of Copa del Rey. The islanders won the clash 3-2 on aggregate and put up another solid performance last Wednesday’s night at San Sebastian.

Wakaso, Sergio Araujo and Alcaraz are still recovering from their respective injuries and are in doubt next time out.

As for Espanyol, last weekend’s defeat at Los Balaídos put an abrupt end to Sergio González’ stewardship at the helm of the club. The Spanish head coach failed to resist to another poor overall performance from his team against Celta de Vigo and ended up being replaced by another man that understands Espanyol’s reality very well: the former Romanian international Constantin Galca. The return of Galca, who played for Los Periquitos from 1997 to 2001, inspired the Catalunya team who pulled rank to overcome Levante in the second-leg for the 1/16 finals of the Copa del Rey. Espanyol returned to winning ways at home, but the match against the Comunidad Valenciana team wasn’t by any means easy. Levante scored first by Verza, very early the match, but one goal from Burgui a few minutes later and another one from Caicedo right after the break allowed Espanyol to book a place in the next stage of the competition. It was the perfect start for Constantin Galca, but next weekend’s match will be of the utmost importance for the team, who has failed to win any of their last three league clashes.

Espanyol

Stats: W-1 L-2 D-2

Recent Form - WLDDL

UD Las Palmas

Stats: W-2 L-2 D-1

Recent Form - DWLWL

Possible Line-ups

Espanyol (4-4-2) - Pau - Lopez - Gonzalez - Roco - Duarte - Burgui - Sánchez - Diop - Asensio - Caicedo - Moreno

UD Las Palmas (4-4-1-1) - Varas - Simon - Hernan - Garrido - Castellano - Gomez - Mesa - Viera - Momo - Araujo - Willian José

Injury List / Suspended Players

Espanyol - None

UD Las Palmas - Alcaraz (in doubt) - Wakaso (in doubt) - Sergio Araujo (in doubt)

Head-to-head matches:​

League Positions