Home strength meets away weakness

With the start of the Spanish LaLiga, live football at a high level is guaranteed throughout. In the Spanish football top flight, all games usually have their own kick-off time and there are no overlaps. The kick-off for the second matchday of the 2022/23 season will take place in Barcelona, but not with the participation of the Blaugrana, instead city rivals Espanyol will welcome Rayo Vallecano.

The guests from the capital Madrid already made a guest appearance in Catalonia last weekend and achieved a respectable 0-0 draw against the great FC Barcelona. Nevertheless, the guest on Friday is considered by the bookmakers as an outsider. For a home win of Espanyol against Rayo Vallecano, betting odds in the range of 2.30 are offered. This is mainly due to Espanyol’s home strength and Rayo’s fundamentally weak performances away from home.

Qualitatively, the teams are basically on a similar level. As promoted sides last season, both teams scored 42 points, with Rayo only ahead of Espanyol on goal difference. The second matchday kicks off on Friday evening at 8 p.m.

Espanyol – Statistics & current form

The relegation in the 2019/20 season was briefly painful for Espanyol Barcelona, but in hindsight it was by no means negative. They managed to return to LaLiga straight away, even becoming LaLiga2 champions in the process. Espanyol Barcelona never had any relegation worries last season. The Catalans were consistently able to finish in mid-table, which is especially due to the very strong performances in the home games.

Home strength as a big trump card

If only the games in front of the home crowd were taken into account, Espanyol Barcelona would even have finished in eighth place. 33 of the 42 points could be collected at home at the RCDE Stadium, in total the team only had to admit defeat four times at home. Among others, they won the match against Real Madrid and managed a remarkable 1-1 draw against FC Barcelona in the big derby. Espanyol Barcelona are at least a notch above their opponents at home, as their 1-6-12 record away from home has been utterly disappointing.

With these statistics, it is perfectly understandable to play favourites in favour of the team of new coach Diego Martinez. Accordingly, the odds offered for Espanyol against Rayo Vallecano are understandable. Despite the fact that they had managed to stay in the league, a change of coach was necessary at the end of the season, because between matchday 32 and 36 they only managed to win one point in five games. With the long-time Granada coach Diego Martinez, Espanyol Barcelona were able to win over a tactician who is one of the most talented young coaches in Spain.

His competitive debut ended happily, as former Hannover striker and new signing Joselu only managed to equalise 2-2 from the ominous penalty spot against Celta Vigo in the 98th minute of the match. But a point gained away from home can definitely be counted as a success.

Predicted line-up of Espanyol:
Lecomte – Olivan, Cabrera, Gomez, Gil – Darder, Calero, Souza – Melamed, Joselu, Sanchez

Last matches played by Espanyol:

La Liga
13/08/2022 – Celta Vigo 2 – 2 Espanyol

Friendly club matches
06/08/2022 – Espanyol 0 – 0 SSC Napoli

30/07/2022 – Brighton 5 – 1 Espanyol

28/07/2022 – Espanyol – 0 – 1 Linense

24/07/2022 – Espanyol 2 – 0 Lille

Rayo Vallecano – Statistics & current form

Promoted and a commanding stay in the league thanks to home strength are also two descriptions that fit Rayo Vallecano like a glove. The cult club from the capital, which is often compared to FC Sankt Pauli in Germany, was considered by many to be the number one candidate for relegation, but was allowed to dream of Europe for a long time. After 21 match days, Rayo Vallecano was still in an outstanding fifth place in the table last year.

In the spring of 2022, however, the strong performances could no longer be confirmed. In the calendar year 2022, Rayo Vallecano have celebrated just two victories in 21 competitive matches (seven draws, twelve defeats). The carefree attitude after promotion has long since faded and the offensive in particular is a major concern, with a meagre 13 goals scored in those 21 games. Between Espanyol and Rayo Vallecano, the prediction that both teams won’t score is accordingly close.

Despite crisis, club holds on to coach

A lot of other clubs would have pulled the ripcord long ago with such a balance sheet for the year. But Rayo ticks a little differently and that’s why head coach Andoni Iraola is still in charge. With the start of the new season, however, the results have to be right again, otherwise the red and whites will quickly find themselves in the relegation maelstrom. Financially, however, the situation is not necessarily rosy, as major changes are de facto not possible. In the transfer window so far, there has been no transfer fee for either a purchase or a sale.

Without any major changes to the squad, however, the team achieved considerable success at the start of the season. At Camp Nou, the defence held firm and prevented Robert Lewandowski from making his dream debut for the Xavi team. A 0:0 against the Blaugrana definitely counts as an extra point. Especially since Rayo Vallecano had only three away wins last season and had to return home twelve times without a point in their luggage.

Predicted line-up of Rayo Vallecano:
Dimitrievski – Garcia, Catena, Lejeune, Balliu – Lopez, Ciss – Garcia, Trejo, Palazon – Camello

Last matches played by Rayo Vallecano:

La Liga
14/08/2022 – FC Barcelona 0 – 0 Rayo Vallecano

Friendly club matches
05/08/2022 – Rayo Vallecano 0 – 0 Real Valladolid

31/07/2022 – Manchester United 1 – 1 Rayo Vallecano

28/07/2022 – Leganes 1 – 2 Rayo Vallecano

23/07/2022 – Birmingham 2 – 2 Rayo Vallecano

Espanyol – Rayo Vallecano Direct comparison / H2H record

The Catalans from Barcelona have a very strong record at home against Rayo Vallecano. Rayo have visited Barcelona 17 times in the top flight and have only won once, while Espanyol have won eleven times and drawn five games. Rayo Vallecano’s only away win in LaLiga history came last season (matchday 33, 1:0). The home match was also won with this result, which underlines the tip on few goals in the duel between Espanyol and Rayo Vallecano.

Espanyol – Rayo Vallecano Tip

Two teams with a number of similarities open the second matchday in the 2022/23 LaLiga season, and despite these many similarities, the current odds see hosts Espanyol as clear favourites against Rayo Vallecano. At first glance, this is quite surprising, because if you can get a point away from FC Barcelona, you should be able to do the same against your small city neighbours. However, the poor performances in 2022 at Rayo Vallecano cannot be denied.

In addition to the crisis at the Red and Whites from Madrid, Espanyol Barcelona’s very good home record also speaks in favour of the home side, who have also been able to raise the quality of their squad with players such as Joselu and Edu Exposito. Five units are entered into the race between Espanyol and Rayo Vallecano for the bet on a home win. Other interesting betting options are the bets on the under 2.5 as well as the bet that not both teams will score. Especially due to the hardly existing Rayo offense in 2022 (13 goals in 21 games).