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By Nathan Evans
Is that unfair to say? Perhaps, but after adding Kylian Mbappé to their ranks over the summer from PSG, many would have been expecting Carlo Ancelotti’s side to have made the perfect domestic start, especially with their opening list of fixtures.
That’s not been the case though, and with disappointing draws on the road against Las Palmas and Mallorca, this Real team has already been exposed, on occasion. As such, they already sit four points behind fierce rivals Barcelona.
Granted, there are explanations for that, mainly in the fact that star midfield Jude Bellingham has missed most of the action through injury. But even after recording successive 2-0 wins over Real Betis and Real Sociedad in LaLiga over the last week or so, again, the Galaticos struggled for large parts of their eventual 3-1 victory at home to Stuttgart in midweek UEFA Champions League action.
What will likely serve as a welcome additional boost is the arrival of Espanyol for this next league fixture. That’s mostly due to the fact that Real have lost just two of their last 29 league fixtures against the side from Catalonia, winning 23 of those matches in the process, whilst on home soil they’ve not lost to this opposition since all the way back to April 1996.
That said, the visitors arrive here after making their own solid start to the new campaign following promotion from Spain’s second tier last season. An even record of two wins, two losses and one draw to date means that they enter this latest matchday sat safely in midtable and if they can achieve that feat come the end of this term, it will have been a very good showing from Espanyol.
Last time out in the capital at the end of August, Manolo González’s side put together a fantastic and spirited showing to claim an important point against Atlético (0-0) and if they can produce similar here, a three-point haul for Real will be much tougher to acquire than many will be predicting.
Expect the away side to sit deep in their very rigid 4-4-2 shape throughout and counter attack when they get the chance. That’s proved to be a worthy game plan for Espanyol so far and with players like Javi Puado – who hit his second senior hat-trick last time out at the expense of Alavés – finding form recently, they remain relatively well-placed to potentially cause a huge upset in this one.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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