La Liga Preview: Real Madrid - Espanyol

While Barcelona and Atlético Madrid square off on Saturday in the first of two tantalizing Catalan-Madrid derbies this weekend, Real Madrid will play host to Espanyol in Sunday’s intriguing main event clash. To Buy Or Not To Buy Ever since the opening day defeat at bogey team, Deportivo La Coruña, Real Madrid have strung together six successive wins, four of them in the league. But despite their impressive run, they’re still unable to dislodge stubborn Villarreal and Valencia from the top of the standings. But their constantly improving performance and results on the pitch have taken precedence over their position in the table and rightly so. The squad as a whole have gelled together brilliantly and the pre-season transfer shenanigans appear to be a forgotten issue. There’s even talk of the club looking to strengthen the squad in positions that doesn’t involve the name Cristiano Ronaldo. The ‘White House’ hierarchy are looking to bring in more defensive reinforcements despite having more top class defenders in their ranks at present than the last five seasons put together. The next few weeks should give the club an indication whether or not they need to further boost their depth during the winter period, and if so, how much. They are now approaching the ever crucial phase of the first half of the season as the fixtures – at club and international level – start flying in thick and fast and the opposition becomes tougher… as the upcoming appointments with Atlético Madrid and Juventus will suggest. First, Los Merengues must negotiate Espanyol in a game that will bring back fond memories of recent meetings at the Bernabéu. In the last two terms, the pair twice met towards the end of the campaign and the capital giants won both encounters in heart-stopping fashion en route to the league title. This season’s meeting comes a tad earlier – by about eight months – and although it will not lead the men in white to any accolades, it could be one that propels them to the top of the table. Still Adjusting After reigning victorious in both their opening two games of the season, Espanyol have now failed to win any of their last three. The most painful of those results to accept was the controversial, last minute 1-2 defeat at home to Barcelona last weekend in the Catalan derbi. To add further insult, the club could now be in trouble for the crowd violence that transpired at the Montjuïc stands during the game, despite the fact that it was the travelling fans who instigated the mayhem by throwing a lit flare towards rival supporters. But back to football on the pitch. It’s clear that new coach Bartolomé Tintín Márquez has yet to get his team going. Los Periquitos did not lose as many of their key players as they thought they would during the hectic summer trade period. They did, however, bring in a fair share of reinforcements but other than that, they have maintained the core group of players from the past two years or so. If anything, it is the coach’s change of philosophy, ideas and system that is forcing the team to spend more time than needed to adjust and assimilate. He has often reiterated his desire for the Blanc-i-Blau to play attacking football but judging by their need to rely on their defensive, counter-attacking approach to get results, it’s obvious that the team is still trying to find their footing. It’s unfortunate that they have been dealt this impossible sequence of games at this stage of the campaign: Sevilla, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Villarreal are not particularly a set of opponents you want to face in succession to polish up on pre-season lessons. But if they can weather this storm, they can start to get their campaign back on track again in the coming few weeks. FORM GUIDE Real Madrid Sep 30 Zenit St. Petersburg 1-2 Real Madrid (CHAMPIONS LEAGUE) Sep 27 Real Betis 1-2 Real Madrid (LA LIGA) Sep 24 Real Madrid 7-1 Sporting Gijón (LA LIGA) Sep 21 Racing Santander 0-2 Real Madrid (LA LIGA) Sep 17 Real Madrid 2-0 BATE Borisov (CHAMPIONS LEAGUE) RCD Espanyol Sep 27 Espanyol 1-2 FC Barcelona (LA LIGA) Sep 24 Sevilla FC 2-0 Espanyol (LA LIGA) Sep 21 Espanyol 1-1 Getafe (LA LIGA) Sep 14 Recreativo Huelva 0-1 Espanyol (LA LIGA) Aug 31 Espanyol 1-0 Real Valladolid (LA LIGA) TEAM NEWS Real Madrid Leftback Marcelo is suspended following his sending off at Betis last week. Wesley Sneijder has completed the rehabilitation on his damaged cruciate knee ligament he suffered two months ago but Schuster has hinted that he may give the Dutchman an extra few weeks to rest so that he, along with Guti and Fernando Gago, will be 100% fit to take on city neighbours Atlético Madrid on October 18. Captain Raúl, rested in midweek Champions League, should return to the starting line-up and that will mean one of either Arjen Robben or Gonzalo Higuaín will be relegated to the bench. At the other end, Fabio Cannavaro could also be rested and if Schuster does take that decision, then Christoph Metzelder should slot in at centreback. Probable Starting XI (4-3-3): Casillas – Sergio Ramos, Cannavaro/Metzelder, Pepe, Heinze – Van der Vaart, Diarrà, De la Red – Higuaín, Van Nistelrooy, Raul (c) RCD Espanyol Winger Nené has been cleared to play after his second yellow card against Barcelona last weekend, which resulted in his sending off, was withdrawn by the Spanish Competition Committee. French defender Grégory Béranger has recovered from a knee injury and along with Rufete, they are both available for selection. But Steve Finnan, Valdo and Marc Torrejón are all sidelined with various ailments. Inspirational playmaker, Iván de la Peña has recovered from his muscle injury but it remains to be seen if coach Tintín Márquez deems him fit enough to make the team. Former Madrid youth team player José Callejón is ineligible to play at the Bernabéu with another club for the first two years of his departure due to a clause on his contract. Probable Starting XI (4-2-3-1): Kameni – Sergio Sánchez, Pareja, Jarque, Chica – Moisés, Román Martínez – Ángel, Luis García, Nené – Raúl Tamudo PLAYERS TO WATCH Real Madrid After putting in a stunning performance a week and a half ago against Sporting Gijón, Raúl went quiet again last Saturday against Betis. After being given a chance to rest midweek against Zenit St. Petersburg, the captain will be fully charged again physically and mentally and with the support of the Bernabéu faithful, he will be eager to get back on the scoresheet. RCD Espanyol Nené has a tendency to do well at the Bernabéu, at least with his previous clubs. His speed down the left wing will be crucial for Espanyol if they want to exploit their opposition’s sometimes careless backline. Along with Luis García, who is always an ever-present threat, the duo will be the team’s creative input.