Barcelona v Espanyol

Barcelona host Espanyol at the Camp Nou on May 5, Saturday. Game commences at 20:00 GMT.

Teams News

Barcelona

Barcelona is bouncing back from their “week-off” big time. After technically losing the title in the Classico and missing out on the Champions League final, the Catalan giants unleashed their goalscoring fury at the expense of Rayo Vallecano and Malaga in their last two outings. Seven goals against the Vallecanos and four against Malaga may be too late for the title, but it should be a fitting farewell to Guardiola who will only have three more games as Barcelona manager.

Barcelona still has two La Liga games to play before the Copa del Rey finals against Bilbao on the 25th of this month. This will help the likes of Xavi, Alexis Sanchez and Gerard Pique recover – Sanchez and Pique were rested against Malaga although they could pass the fitness test against Espanyol in the weekend. Until that game, Barcelona still has time to impress the outgoing manager while at the same time practice their lethal goalscoring potential against La Liga sides.

Espanyol

Espanyol is on a dismal three-game losing skid; they are however, fortunate enough to be situated far from the drop zone otherwise Mauricio Pochettino would be scrambling for points in the next two games. Still, Espanyol will need points, but without the pressure of relegation, they are bound to express themselves more freely on the field rather than be stiff and completely park the bus.

The Periquitos once played the spoiler’s part against Barcelona this season. Early in January Espanyol caught Barcelona by surprise, forcing a draw at the Estadi Cornellà-El Prat. The dropped points will go on to haunt Barcelona (in fact the drawn games should still be haunting the Blaugrana until now) and deny them the championship this season. Barcelona will not have anything important at the moment that Espanyol can spoil, but their recent mini-run of 11 goals in two games may end against an aggressive Espanyol defense.

Barcelona v Espanyol Betting Preview

The last time Espanyol won at the Camp Nou was way back in 2011. It was a club friendly, so never mind. In the league however, Barcelona has been winning this fixture in three of their last five matches – Espanyol escaped with a win in February 2009. As always, Barcelona — especially at Camp Nou — are just too big for La Liga midtable sides.

Betting Tip

Verdict: Barcelona 3, Espanyol 0.

Tip: Barcelona has all the favors every book can offer that there’s not much rewards in this game expect when talking about the exact scoreline. Eleven goals in the last two games makes this tie too difficult to predict, but anyway… We fancy a Barcelona 3-0 win at 6/1. Espanyol does not look like it’s going to get to score this game so it might be wise for 4-0 at 7/1 and 5-0 at 11/1. We don’t fancy the Espanyol defense to concede more than five but suit yourself; the rewards are bigger at 6-0 and up.

All odds are from Bet365.com (£200 FREE BET!).