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Peter Green - July 23, 2019
Espanyol vs Stjarnan
Europa League Qualification
Date: Thursday, 25 July 2019
Kick-off at 20:00 UK / 21:00 CET
Venue: RCDE Stadium (Barcelona).
The hosts finished seventh in the league last season, thereby ensuring that they did not miss out on the action across Europe this year.
The squad were impressive especially towards the end of their campaign where they went nine games without succumbing to a single defeat. They were so good, that they even took down eventual runners-up Athletico Madrid, in the process, by a 3-0 scoreline.
The visitors survived a scare in the previous round of the qualifiers against Levadia and rode on the away goals rule to safety after the aggregate result read 4-4 at the end of the second leg.
Having already tasted success in the first leg by a 2-1 scorecard, the away side came into the latter clash as the favorites to win. However, the opponents turned the tables on them and the tie was pushed into extra time, with Gudjonsson finding a late away goal to settle the difference.
They can certainly rule out any chances of a tight run of affairs in their trip this week though, with the Spanish outfit more than certain to post a comfortable victory.
The hosts are the outright favorites to come out on top when they welcome the side from Iceland to their midst on Thursday.
The home team are unbeaten in their last five clashes on home soil and have scored nine goals while conceding just thrice. They also recorded two clean sheets to go with it.
Despite scoring twice in each of their last four games, the visitors have just one win so far in all of their previous five trips on the road.
With home advantage firmly in hand, the hosts are likely to find the back of the net early one and are unlikely to stop at just the one.
The visitors do not seem capable of getting their names on the scoresheet against the Spanish outfit, especially at this venue, so expect the home team to win both halves with ease.
