Point- and goalless Espanyol visit Atletico
A poor start with two defeats in two games – and now Espanyol head straight to the Metropolitano to face Atletico Madrid on matchday 3 of La Liga in the English week. There are truly more pleasant away appearances. The newly-promoted side will have had a very different start to the season. The mood is completely different for the home side, who celebrated their first win on Sunday evening. Will Atletico Madrid confirm their prediction of another triumph against Espanyol Barcelona?
Three days later, Atletico are back in action at home to the Metropolitano and are of course the heavy favorites against the visitors from Catalonia. The Atletico Madrid vs Espanyol Barcelona betting tip on the home side is obvious – but it’s not lucrative, at least not in the three-way betting.
The Atletico Madrid vs Espanyol Barcelona odds from bookmakers with a German license read extremely clearly in advance, but will it be a clear-cut affair? Even though Espanyol lost both games, the Pericos put up an extremely good fight in evenly matched games and could have been rewarded with two draws
Atletico Madrid – statistics & current form
Five goals in three games, Atletico’s attacking machinery is already running really well. After the 2-2 draw at FC Villarreal in the opener, when Atletico showed signs of their attacking prowess but were shaky at the back, coach Diego Simeone must have been satisfied with his team on Sunday evening.
Not just because the 3-0 win against Girona was their first victory of the season. But also because three goals were scored up front and they kept a clean sheet at the back – something Simeone is particularly keen on
Will Atletico Madrid keep a clean sheet against Espanyol?
This has rarely been the case in the past – despite home wins. Atletico conceded goals in 14 of their 19 home games last season. Not conceding a goal against the strong Girona, last season’s second-best offense, is a step in the right direction. The next one should follow directly on Wednesday when Espanyol visit the Metropolitano.
An Atletico Madrid vs Espanyol Barcelona betting tip for the Rojiblancos’ next home win is an obvious one, especially as Espanyol have yet to score. The newly promoted side are the only team yet to score a goal of their own.
Predicted line-up for Atletico Madrid:
Espanyol Barcelona – Statistics & current form
“Los Pericos” (the budgies) definitely had a different idea of how they wanted to start the season. They had a doable game in front of them on matchday 1, as they faced fellow promoted side Real Valladolid. However, they suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat there in an evenly-matched game.
Espanyol got the same result again on Saturday evening. Once again, they were by no means the worse team – but once again the result was a bitter 0:1, although Espanyol did much more for the game than the visitors from San Sebastian. The promoted side fired eleven shots in the penalty area alone and created three great chances – but once again they failed to score. Real Sociedad scored on the other side in the 80th minute thanks to a brilliant individual move by Kubo – and ultimately secured a flattering away win
Espanyol Barcelona waiting for their first goal of the season
Espanyol are one of only two teams alongside Valencia with zero points and the only team in La Liga yet to score a goal. The current table is not a pretty one, and that could continue to be the case after matchday 3. The visitors from Catalonia are the big underdogs, with Atletico Madrid vs Espanyol Barcelona odds of over 10.00. This is due to the start of the season, the promoted status, Atletico’s home strength (only two home defeats last season) and possibly also the Pericos’ results away from home last season.
Interestingly enough, the promoted team only managed five away wins in 21 games on the road – not an exhilarating result. At the same time, only one team had more draws at their opponents’ grounds than Espanyol, who drew ten times. A point at the Metropolitano would be a guaranteed win for the promoted side.
Predicted Espanyol Barcelona line-up:
Atletico Madrid – Espanyol Barcelona head-to-head comparison / H2H record
Speaking of draws: There were two of these in both meetings in the 2022/23 season, when Espanyol were last in the top flight. Back then, Espanyol drew 1-1 at the Metropolitano and 3-3 at home.
So if you fancy a draw, you should at least take a look at the odds on Atletico Madrid v Espanyol Barcelona – the various online bookmakers are offering odds of over 5.00. And after all, three of the last six clashes have ended like this.
However, historically speaking, Catalan wins at Atletico are rare: in 91 games at Atletico, Espanyol have only managed nine draws and (at least) 18 wins. So the home side won 64 games
Atletico Madrid – Espanyol Barcelona betting tip
Will both teams pick up where they left off? That was a 3-0 win for Atletico against last year’s third-placed Girona and an extremely courageous performance for Espanyol, but also another defeat without scoring
Both could well happen on Wednesday evening when the two sides meet at the Metropolitano. Anything other than a home win would also be an unexpected setback for Simeone’s squad, which has been so strengthened in the summer. The attacking machinery has been running well of late, with Julian Alvarez and Alexander Sörloth adding to Simeone’s attacking arsenal.
Our Atletico Madrid vs Espanyol Barcelona prediction therefore aims for a home win – even with a handicap. Because even if Espanyol will once again go all out, Atletico can still score late on the counterattack – as was the case against Girona, for example.
