Espanyol v Real Madrid: Match Preview, Team News, Predicted XI

After their midweek victory over Girona in the Copa del Rey quarterfinals, Real Madrid travel to Catalonia to face-off against Espanyol at the RCDE Stadium.

It has been a poor season so far for the Periquitos, as the team islanguishing on 14th place in the table with just 24 points from their opening 20 matches. A win today will see the Catalan club go as high as 9th in the table while a loss will mean them dropping down a place to 15th, depending on the other results. They are win-less in two games, while they have won just one out of their previous five.

After coming back from a goal down to win 4-2 against Girona at home in the Copa del Rey, Real Madrid will be high on confidence ahead of this trip. With Sevilla winning their match against Levante, Madrid will be looking to get back to the third in the league with a win over Espanyol.

The first encounter between the sides ended with Los Blancos winning 1-0 at home. Thus for this game, here's your team news and predicted XI.

Team News

Espanyol

Oscar Duarte is the only key player missing for the Catalan side

Oscar Duarte is the only concern for the Catalan side, with the rest of the squad fit and available.

Real Madrid

The Welsh international is back in training

Gareth Bale and Marco Asensio are back in training for the Los Blancos but are not expected to feature in the starting line-up while Toni Kroos and Marcos Llorente are likely to be back in the starting XI after having come off the bench in the midweek.