La Liga : Mallorca vs Espanyol Preview Match

Mallorca kept the La Liga relegation zone at bay for another week with a valuable come-from-behind 2-1 win at Valencia, but there’s still plenty of work to do with the points tally revealing just how close they are to 18th place despite finishing Round 11 in 12th.

Yet encouragingly for manager Javier Aguirre, after that win his side joined just a handful of La Liga clubs to have won after conceding the opening goal - a feat they managed only twice in league football last season (W2, D1, L19).

A winning habit must be established if they are to avoid flirting with relegation for a second successive season, and it is so far something that has eluded them, even at home. 

Yet to record back-to-back La Liga wins in 2022/23, Mallorca have also slipped up when hosting struggling clubs such as Girona (D 1-1) and Sevilla (L 0-1), leaving them by no means assured of victory here.

Espanyol failed to defeat Elche (2-2) in their most recent league fixture, a result that under fire manager Diego Martinez described as “inexplicable” and “very frustrating”, not least because his side had taken the lead after conceding the first goal of the game, only to drop two points with just minutes to play. 

They slipped below Mallorca as a consequence and could even drop into the bottom three with another loss here.

In what remains Espanyol’s second-worst start to a La Liga season in nine years in terms of points earned (W2, D4, L5), Barcelona’s lesser-known side have also been both underwhelming and overachievers at times throughout their campaign.

That points to a trend that Espanyol will be hoping continues for at least one more week, where the pre-match favourite on the day has won an equal-league low four of their 11 La Liga games so far (D4, L3).