Preview: Espanyol-Depor

Espanyol and Deportivo La Coruna will be looking to sustain recent upturns in form when they lock horns in La Liga on Sunday.

Espanyol boss Quique Sanchez Flores on his side’s need to be ‘smart’: “It’s been an intense week in terms of preparation and players pulling up with knocks, but we’ll go into the game with a lot of mental energy, which is the most important thing of all.

“The key is to be smart and know that we have to do things well, but we have to do them against a team that will ask a lot of us.

“We mustn’t make any mistakes. They’re a lively team, so we must watch out for them.”

Depor boss Pepe Mel on what can ‘kill’ his team: "We know what awaits us against Espanyol. They’re a compact team, who play in a 4-4-2, leave no space between the lines and bring the ball out quickly.

“We must be very, very good in terms of vigilance and transitions because the pace of Piatti, Baptistao and Gerard can kill you.

“There’ll be some changes because there may be some players that are more tired than others or have problems.”

Espanyol (probable): Pau; Victor, David, Hermoso, Aaron; Jurado, Fuego, Darder, Piatti; Gerard, Baptistao

Injuries/suspensions: Javi Lopez, Oscar Duarte (I)

Deportivo La Coruna (probable): Tyton; Juanfran, Schar, Arribas, Luisinho; Fede, Borges, Guilherme, Valverde; Lucas, Andone

Injuries/suspensions: Adrian, Bakkali, Gil, Mosquera, Ruben, Sidnei (I)

Referee: Melero Lopez

Form guide: Espanyol (D W L L D) Depor (W L L D L)

Previous meeting: Depor 1-2 Espanyol

Venue: Riazor

Kick-off time: 11:00 BST/12:00 local time 

Tags Deportivo
La Liga - Club News