Will de Tomas strike again?
Cadiz v Espanyol Barcelona is a clash between two promoted teams in La Liga. The home side have already been waiting seven matchdays for their next win and are only second to last in the table. From their point of view, the task of staying in the league is not on a good path. The situation is more relaxed for the visitors.
At the moment, they occupy a mid-table position and the relegation zone is as far away as the ranks for the Champions League. This makes it clear that the Catalans can be satisfied with the way the season has gone so far.
For the match at the Estadio Nuevo Mirandilla between Cadiz and Espanyol Barcelona, betting on a goal by Raul de Tomas on the visitors’ side seems to be profitable.
Cadiz – Statistics & current form
The Andalusians achieved promotion as runners-up in the Spanish lower house, but their stay in La Liga could be short-lived as described. One shortcoming is their weak offence. Getafe alone score fewer goals than coach Alvaro Cervera’s team in a league-wide comparison.
On average, the home side scores less than one goal per league match and for the last three matchdays, the attack has even stopped working completely. In view of this, the odds on an away win to nil in the clash between Cadiz and Espanyol Barcelona also make sense.
Cadiz are still waiting for their first home win this season
The prediction is underpinned by the newcomer’s glaring home weakness. Cadiz are the only club in the top flight of Spanish football not to have won a single home game! Instead, five defeats and five draws have been recorded. Three of the five defeats have ended in a clean sheet for the victorious visitors.
A record that quickly makes it clear that the offensive weakness mentioned above is also evident in the home matches. Only Choco Lozano can be singled out from the criticism of the attacking line. The striker from Honduras has already scored five goals and thus a third of all the goals scored by the “Piratas”.
A maximum of two goals by the final whistle?
However, the weak offence and at least solidly functioning defence in the home games means that these matches are very low-scoring. Only two of the ten games at the Estadio Nuevo Mirandilla ended with more than 2.5 goals. With this in mind, betting on a result below three goals in the game between Cadiz and Espanyol Barcelona is also a good idea.
Predicted line-up of Cadiz:
Ledesma – Chust – Cala – Fali – Espino – Arzamendia – Alarcon – Jonsson – Chapela – Fernandez – Sobrino
Last matches played by Cadiz:
Copa del Rey
01/15 2022 – Sporting Gijon (2)0 – 0(4) Cadiz
LaLiga
01/09 2022 – Osasuna Pamplona 2 – 0 Cadiz
Copa del Rey
01/06 2022 – Fuenlabrada 0 – 1 Cadiz
LaLiga
01/03 2022 – Cadiz 0 – 1 Sevilla
12/19 2021 – Real Madrid 0 – 0 Cadiz
Espanyol Barcelona – Statistics & current form
Like their opponents, the Catalans had a poor start to 2022. Although they first won the cup against Ponferradina from La Liga 2, this was only achieved in a penalty shootout and the first league match against Elche was subsequently lost. An unnecessary defeat, as the opponent was at best equal.
The only goal in the 1-2 defeat was once again scored by Raul de Tomas, although only from the penalty spot. Nevertheless, the attacker can be described as the strongest weapon of coach Vicente Moreno’s team in the offensive. The 27-year-old has already scored ten goals in 19 appearances for the two-time second-division champions!
De Tomas is the fourth best goal scorer in La Liga
Adding two previous assists, it can be seen that de Tomas has been directly or indirectly involved in more than half of the visitors’ 23 goals for the season. In addition, only Benzema and Junior Vinicius of Real Madrid and Juanmi of Betis Sevilla score more often than the Spaniard in a league-wide comparison.
The visitors can also take heart from their first win away from home in their last outing at Valencia. The win has certainly boosted the visitors’ self-confidence for the upcoming tasks away from home, as they no longer have the disadvantage of not having won away from home before.
Predicted line-up of Espanyol Barcelona:
Garcia – Cabrera – Pedrosa – Gomez – Vidal – Embarba – Bare – Morlanes – Puado – de Tomas – Moron
Last matches played by Espanyol Barcelona:
Copa del Rey
01/15 2022 – Mallorca 2 – 1 Espanyol
LaLiga
01/10 2022 – Espanyol 1 – 2 Elche
Copa del Rey
01/04 2022 – Ponferradina 1,1- 1,3 Espanyol
LaLiga
12/31 2021 – Valencia 1 – 2 Espanyol
12/17 2021 – Celta Vigo 3 – 1 Espanyol
Cadiz – Espanyol Barcelona Direct comparison / H2H record
In the first leg, the two-time UEFA Cup finalists beat Cadiz 2-0. In contrast, Barcelona’s away record against the Andalusians is poor: Five guest appearances have been made at the “Submarino Amarillo” in the country’s first and second divisions in the past 31 years and none have been won (0-2-3).
Cadiz – Espanyol Barcelona Tip
The new year has not brought any improvement for Cadiz so far: both league games in 2022 against Sevilla and Osasuna ended with a 0-1 defeat. At least in the Copa del Rey, however, a victory was celebrated in between, although this only came against Fuenlabrada from La Liga 2.
An opponent who is not only in the lower league, but is currently very poor in form and in danger of relegation in their own division. For the game between Cadiz and Espanyol Barcelona, the prediction includes a goal for the home side by Raul de Tomas
The striker scored in the first half of the season and is currently the visitors’ top scorer. He has scored in three of the last four rounds of matches and only three La Liga players have topped his tally of ten goals over the course of the season for the four-time Spanish Cup winners.
