Espanyol v Real Mallorca – Betting Preview
Espanyol Summary
Espanyol’s win last weekend against Elche was absolutely huge for the club as it took them from 17th spot up into 13th, with a 4 point gap now between them and the drop zone.
On the back of being booed off in their most recent home game, the 2-3 loss to Real Sociedad, the squad is determined to make this game with Mallorca a more positive performance and result.
The Catalans are starting to lack in confidence but if they can win here, it gives them a real chance to move away further from the relegation zone.
March is a big month for them too where, apart from a trip to face Real Madrid, they have some more winnable fixtures such as Valladolid, Celta Vigo, and Girona.
Team news is not great and manager Diego Martinez will be hoping a couple of players can pull through to be available.
Their key centre back Cesar Montes was training normally since wednesay and is expected to be cleared to begin.
Striker Joselu is a much bigger doubt but is expected to return to normal training on Friday. How he evolves in that final session will make the mind up of the medical staff and boss.
Braithwaite leads the attack if Joselu has to miss out, and so at this stage it is pretty much 50/50 between these two.
Real Mallorca Summary
Eighth placed Real Mallorca’s morale and confidence is incredibly high after the win at home to Villarreal last weekend.
The fantastic and entertaining 4-2 win was a season high for them in La Liga 2022/23, even though it has included wins over the likes of Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid.
The visitor will have belief and go for the three points in this match at the RCDE Stadium, but a point is not a terrible result.
Based around their superb pick up in form at their home stadium, the islanders don’t have any relegation fears and are closer to the top six and the drop zone. They are playing now carefree and with nothing to lose.
Mallorca and Aguirre are not keen to publicly entertaining any ambitions for European places and for now, just want to stay focused on the ultimate goal which is to avoid being dragged back toward the drop zone.
Team news makes for very positive Reading for Real Mallorca. Only fringe man Daniel Luna is out.
It is highly probable Aguirre sends out an unchanged and full-strength team.
Betting Analysis
Looking at the 1×2 market first. Espanyol arguably has more at stake but team news favours the away team and so does overall form. Mallorca look big @ 3.35 to win. Espanyol are @ 2.45 to win while the draw is @ 3.00.
Moving onto the Asian handicap betting for this contest. Mallorca are undervalued in this market with a +0.25 start @ 1.83. That said, for some reason I don’t have much trust in Mallorca here, it could be one of those games where the team that needs it more gets the points. Espanyol -0.25 is @ 2.04.
Finally we will look at the Under/Over goals betting, where the line is set very low at 1.75. Over is @ 1.85 and Under is @ 1.97. Quite easy purely on value just to take the Over here. If there are exactly two goals then it pays as a half win, and I see both teams getting a goal in this.
