Real Madrid will continue their pursuit of La Liga leaders Barcelona on Saturday afternoon with a home fixture against an Espanyol outfit that are involved in a fierce battle in the bottom half of the division.
Los Blancos are second in the table, nine points behind Barcelona on the same number of games (24), while Espanyol sit 13th, just two points ahead of the relegation zone in Spain's top flight.
Match preview
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Back-to-back draws with Atletico Madrid and Real Betis in the league have seen Real Madrid lose ground in their pursuit of Barcelona, with the gap from first to second now sitting at nine points, which is a substantial lead at this stage of the campaign.
Carlo Ancelotti's side have to keep winning and hope that Barcelona drop enough points to allow them back into the race, and the reigning Spanish and European champions are entering a key stage of their season.
Indeed, next week, Liverpool will head to Bernabeu for the second leg of their last-16 Champions League affair, with Real Madrid leading 5-2 from the first leg at Anfield, and that match will then be followed by the small matter of a trip to Camp Nou to face Barcelona in La Liga.
April will open with a home match against Real Valladolid, before Los Blancos again head to Camp Nou, this time for the second leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final, with Xavi's side 1-0 ahead on aggregate.
Real Madrid have picked up 25 points from their 11 home league fixtures this season but will be welcoming an Espanyol side that have managed a respectable 14 points from 12 games on their travels in 2022-23.
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Espanyol will not arrive at Bernabeu with too much confidence, having lost six of their last seven league games against Real Madrid, conceding seven times in their last two fixtures with the capital giants.
Earlier this season, Los Blancos ran out 3-1 winners in the reverse match, while it was 4-0 to Real Madrid when the two teams locked horns for the corresponding fixture last term.
Espanyol will enter this match off the back of a 2-1 loss at Real Valladolid last weekend, but they have won two of their last three in the league, which has moved them up into 13th position in the table.
There are only two points separating them from Almeria in 18th, though, so a couple more poor results could see them fall towards the bottom three once again, with a number of teams involved in the relegation battle.
The White and Blues dropped into the Segunda Division for the 2020-21 campaign, but they returned to the top level at the first time of asking and managed to claim 14th last season.
Diego Martinez's side will know that they are up against it this weekend when it comes to claiming a positive result, but the visitors will hope that Real Madrid are distracted by the Liverpool fixture.
Team News
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Real Madrid will again definitely be without the services of David Alaba and Ferland Mendy due to hamstring problems, while Karim Benzema has also been ruled out of the contest.
Benzema picked up "a knock on his ankle" in training, according to Ancelotti, but the centre-forward is expected to be available against Liverpool.
Antonio Rudiger had also been struggling with a knock, but the Germany international is in the squad and should be able to start on Saturday.
Luka Modric was suspended against Real Betis last weekend, but the Croatian could start here, while Rodrygo is likely to play through the middle due to Benzema's absence.
As for Espanyol, Dani Gomez, Adria Pedrosa and Keidi Bare were missing against Real Valladolid last weekend, and that is again expected to be the case for this match.
Brian Olivan is a fresh doubt due to his early substitution last time out, which could lead to Ronael Pierre-Gabriel being introduced into the back four on Saturday afternoon.
There are not expected to be any changes further forward, though, with Denis Suarez, Martin Braithwaite and Javi Puado set to support Joselu in the centre-forward position.
Real Madrid possible starting lineup:
Courtois; Carvajal, Militao, Rudiger, Camavinga; Modric, Tchouameni, Kroos; Valverde, Rodrygo, Vinicius
Espanyol possible starting lineup:
Pacheco; Gil, Montes, S Gomez, Pierre-Gabriel; Darder, Vinicius; Puado, Suarez, Braithwaite; Joselu
We say: Real Madrid 2-0 Espanyol
Real Madrid will have one eye on their Champions League clash with Liverpool, but they simply cannot afford any more slip-ups in the league to stand a chance of catching Barcelona, and we are expecting Ancelotti's side to secure all three points this weekend courtesy of a 2-0 scoreline.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Matt Law
