RCD Espanyol vs Rayo Vallecano – 19/08/2022
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Two sides coming off the back of a draw on the opening day will meet here as Espanyol and Rayo Vallecano meet at the RCDE Stadium in Barcelona with Diego Martinez’s men looking to finally get a win on the board after a dreadful past few weeks in charge of the club.
It’s been tough for Espanyol in the past year. The club fought relegation for much of last season and finished with just 10 wins and 42 points in La Liga last time out, which saw them concede a terrible record of 53 goals conceded and 40 goals scored.
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— RCD Espanyol de Barcelona (@RCDEspanyol) August 18, 2022
What’s more, with 12 draws and 16 losses, they were in torrid form for most of the season and finished just four points above the drop zone in the end.
Things were made worse for the club when they met with Celta Vigo on the opening weekend of action, where Espanyol saw just three shots on target in the game despite the two goals.
Edu Exposito scored for his side that day, as Espanyol stunningly came back from two goals down to win snatch a draw. More incredibly than that, it took until the 98th minute to finally get the equaliser, as Joselu scored from the penalty spot with time all but finished.
Back in preseason, Espnayol would fall to a 5-1 defeat to Brighton of the Premier League and see just two shots on target all game long. Further draws came with sides from Italy, as they got a commendable 0-0 draw with Napoli one day to finish the summer fixtures with a bit of something to shout about.
As for Rayo Vallecano, they got a draw against Manchester United at Old Trafford in a solid defensive display from the Spanish side.
The club did meet with Barcelona on the opening weekend of La Liga action, as they drew 0-0 in what was another excellent defensive display from the Madrid side. On the attacking front, however, they once again struggled, but they remain in solid defensive form right now.
Forebet can’t see much else other than a draw here. Neither side has been able to put much of an effort up to this point, while both preseason of either club were pretty poor.
A draw is Forebet’s prediction here and for the game to also see under 2.5 goals with both clubs barely able to get a goal in recent times, especially last season.
