Rayo Vallecano vs Espanyol — Tips & Analysis

Espanyol +0.5: Rayo have lost the two players who make almost everything they create, and both went in the same week. Isi Palazon is out with a muscle injury and Jorge de Frutos is suspended. Centre back Luiz Felipe and goalkeeper Augusto Batalla are out too. Rayo sit 16th on 4 points and have let in 6 more goals than they have scored. They have won 7 of their last 16 games and score fewer than 2 goals a game. Espanyol are no better going forward, but they do defend. They let in just over a goal a game. Their games have just over 2 goals in them on average, among the quietest on the card. They are without Javi Puado and Kike Garcia, so neither team has a full strength attack. The history helps us as well. Espanyol have won four of the last five meetings, including a 4-0 in Vallecas. This one is not even at Vallecas. It is at Butarque in Leganes, so Rayo's home run comes on a borrowed ground. A 1-1 is the most likely finish, and that is a result this pick is happy with. The one warning is that Rayo have not lost in seven home games. We still want Espanyol to come away from Madrid with something.