Rayo Vallecano vs Espanyol Match Preview

Rayo Vallecano welcome Espanyol for the 35th round of the Spanish La Liga.

Rayo Valladolid failed to look competitive last Monday away at Betis and were inevitably beaten 3-1. They conceded two goals at crucial points in the first half, at the start of the game and just before the break. In the second half, they were the team that came out strong and reduced the deficit but could not have a similar follow-up and conceded a third goal in stoppage time.

With this defeat, Rayo Vallecano remained on 46 points and are in 11th place in the standings, however, they still have a chance of catching a European ticket for the new year being 4 points behind the 7th place Athletic Bilbao.

Espanyol are coming off a heavy 4-2 home defeat in their local derby against Barcelona. They appeared underwhelming and were easily beaten, in the first hour of the game they had a four goal deficit and only in the last minutes when their opponents relaxed were they able to limit the size of the score.

This was not only a defeat of prestige given that with this three-point victory their hated rival celebrated this year's title mathematically, but also of substance as they are mired in 19th place with 31 points , 4 less than the relegation threshold.

This is a crucial encounter between two teams that want to win for different reasons. Rayo to stay close to the top seven, Espanyol to keep any hopes of staying up. Their need for victory points could lead to a high-scoring encounter, as has been the case in recent matches between both teams. My pick is Over 2.5 goals at odds of 2.00.