Espanyol ended their season last year winning the final nine games of the season. In doing so, the club clinched a spot into the Europa League. As for Sevilla, their pre-season ended positive and they would like to take that run into their first game on Sunday.
Espanyol had a good preseason as well, so both teams will be coming into this game in good form. Sevilla finished last season ahead of Espanyol by six points and, in addition, won both head to head matches with Espanyol resulting in 1-0 and 2-1.
Sevilla made changes in the offseason bringing in new Sporting Director Roman Monchi Rodriquez while new coach Julen Lopetegui returns to management after being fired by Real Madrid seven months prior to signing. The coaching change will mean that Sevilla will expect their new coach to win immediately as the Andalucian’s failed to make the Champions League last season.
As for Espanyol, the club is looking to continue off their strong finish last season and will use that as extra motivation going into the start of the season. The club needed until the last weekend to clinch Europa League and will want to avoid that this season. They will need to play collectively if they’re to have a chance against the Sevilla squad with a new look.
Injuries and Suspensions
Espanyol will be without David Lopez and Pablo Piatti as both players continue to recover from ligament rupture.
Sevilla will start the season with no injuries.
Both clubs have no suspensions as it's their first game respectively.
Predicted Line-Up
Sevilla is expected to start with the 4-3-3. Vaclik, Escudero, Carlos, Kounde, Navas, Fernando, Torres, Jordan, Ocampos, De Jong, Munir
Espanyol is expected to start with the 4-4-2. Diego Lopez, Javi Lopez, Naldo, Lluis Lopez, Pedrosa, Melendo, Darder, Roca, Vargas, Wu, Ferreyra
One to Watch
With Wissam Ben Yedder and Antonio Sanabria leaving Sevilla this past summer, the club will expect newcomer Luuk-De-Jong to take the reign and make the most of his opportunity with his new club. The striker was the top scorer in the 2018-2019 Eredivisie season with PSV Eindhoven and will want to repeat those results as the club will be looking to him for goals.
Espanyol will have young promising player Adria Pedrosa starting on Sunday as they have a good track record of developing good young players. He broke into the team towards the end of last season playing the full ninety minutes in all of Espanyol’s final six games winning four and drawing two. Pedrosa will need to be counted on Sunday as the team has a lot of uncertainty as a lot of key players were sold in the summer.