Espanyol will take on Getafe later tonight (Tuesday) with an eye on their second successive win as they go into the match upbeat and fresh from a 2-0 victory over Alaves, starting their campaign on Saturday on a winning note following the lockdown imposed to tackle the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bernardo Espinosa and Wu Lei were the scorers for the Catalan side in their home game.
Getafe will be aiming to regroup themselves following a 1-2 setback against Granada on their return game after resumption of the league. The team’s campaign this year has been impressive with 46 points from 28 matches. Despite the setback in the last game, a win against Espanyol would propel them into the top for four from the present fifth.
Espanyol despite the win on Saturday are still languishing at the bottom of the points table. They are level on points with 19th-placed Leganes and just two points behind 18th-placed Mallorca and three short of Celta Vigo in the 17th. While Celta are way beyond their reach on net scoring, a win by any margin can push them to the 18th spot ahead of Mallorca, who will also be playing later tonight (11:00 pm India time) against Villareal.
Espanyol, however, have not beaten Getafe in a league game since November 2017.
Getafe’s Likely Options
Getafe will be without the services of central defender Xabier Etxeita through suspension, while Filip Manojlovic is again expected to miss out with a back problem. Nemanja Maksimovic, Jaime Mata and Mauro Arambarri are all back from bans of their own, though, and the trio are expected to return to the starting XI for Tuesday’s fixture.
Mata should join Jorge Molina in the final third, while Maksimovic and Arambarri are expected to feature in midfield as Bordalas prepares to shuffle his pack from the defeat at Granada.
Espanyol Likely Team
Espanyol, Sebastien Corchia is still unavailable due to a knee injury, but first-choice goalkeeper Diego Lopez is back from a suspension and should return. The Catalan outfit’s squad is in good shape heading into the contest, and it would not be a surprise to see the bulk of the XI that started against Alaves take to the field here.
Wu Lei, who is currently being linked with Wolverhampton Wanderers, should again feature in the final third alongside Jonathan Calleri, with Adri Embarba also keeping his spot.
Starting line-up likely:
Getafe: Soria; Suarez, Dakonam, Cabaco, Nyom; Etebo, Arambarri, Maksimovic, Cucurella; Mata, Molina.
Espanyol: Diego Lopez; J Lopez, Espinosa, Cabrera, Vila; Melendo, David Lopez, Roca, Embarba; Calleri, Wu Lei.
The match scheduled to start from 11:00 pm IST will be streamed LIVE in India by Facebook.