- 1 Malaga vs Espanyol: the only winless side in La Liga against their bogey team
- 2 Malaga: three goals in seven games and not a single player with more than one
- 3 Espanyol: two straight defeats, but a striker in the form of his life
- 4 Free Football Prediction: Malaga vs Espanyol
- 5 About our free predictions
- 6 No commitment from us
- 7 Information changes
- 8 Your responsibility
- 9 Responsible gambling
- 10 Legal age
- 11 About visuals
Malaga vs Espanyol: the only winless side in La Liga against their bogey team 
Three goals in seven games. That’s Malaga’s entire attacking output since promotion, and it’s the lowest total in the Spanish top flight.
Juan Francisco Funes’s side open La Liga Matchday 8 on Friday 9 October at La Rosaleda, with kick-off at 21:00 Paris time. They’re bottom of the table on three points, and they’re the only club in the division still waiting for a league win. Three draws, four defeats. No hiding from that.
Espanyol aren’t exactly flying either. Manolo Gonzalez’s side sit 15th with seven points, and they went into the international break on the back of two straight defeats: 2-1 at Rayo Vallecano, then a 3-1 home loss to Elche that stung. Two wins from seven isn’t the start a club that finished 11th last season had in mind.
But here’s the thing. Malaga haven’t beaten Espanyol since March 2012. Fourteen meetings without a win, five straight defeats, and the last time these two met in May 2021, it finished 3-0 to the Catalans. Espanyol have also won on each of their last three trips to La Rosaleda without conceding a goal. That’s not a trend. That’s a habit.
So what decides it? The hosts can’t score, and the visitors carry the hottest striker in the bottom half of the table. Roberto Fernandez has six league goals in seven appearances, enough to earn a first Spain call-up. Malaga, as a squad, have half that number.
Add a squad short of top-flight quality, a lengthy injury list at home and an opponent with a decade of dominance in this fixture, and the case builds quickly. Espanyol don’t have to be brilliant on Friday. They just have to be themselves.
Malaga: three goals in seven games and not a single player with more than one 
Nobody at Malaga has scored more than once this season. Read that again. Seven league games, three goals, three different names, and an attack that averages 0.43 goals per 90 minutes. You can’t stay up on numbers like that.
Funes has stayed loyal to the young core that won promotion through the 2025-26 Segunda Division playoffs. It’s an admirable approach, but it’s not working. While the other promoted clubs spent heavily in the summer, Malaga barely added to the squad, and the gap in quality shows up every weekend. The 4-0 hammering at the Bernabeu was the loudest example. The quieter ones hurt more.
September started with promise of sorts: a 0-0 at home to Levante, then a 1-1 at Celta Vigo. Then it fell apart. Villarreal won 3-1 at La Rosaleda, and Getafe nicked it 1-0 with an 85th-minute goal at the Coliseum. Two defeats going into the break. Not a great platform.
The treatment room makes for uncomfortable reading. Aaron Ochoa and Julen Lobete are out until the new year, Fernando Calero and Diego Murillo are also sidelined, and Adam Aznou, who’s missed the last three matches, is a major doubt. Jose Salinas can’t face his parent club Espanyol under the terms of his loan. That’s a lot of bodies missing for a squad that was already thin.
There’s one bit of good news. Juan Cruz is fit again. The winger produced nine goal contributions for Leganes in La Liga 2024-25 and has one assist in seven outings this term. Chupe should also come back into the starting XI after starting on the bench in Getafe. Will it be enough? Doubtful.
The one thing Malaga do reasonably well is keep games tight. Under 2.5 goals has landed in 71% of their league fixtures this season, and they’ve only conceded 12. That’s not a defensive fortress, but it means they’re rarely blown away. The problem is the other end. A side that can’t score more than once can’t win many games.
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Espanyol: two straight defeats, but a striker in the form of his life 
Roberto Fernandez is carrying this team right now. Six goals in seven league games, a first senior call-up for Spain, and the kind of confidence that makes a striker dangerous against anybody. Against a defence that’s leaked 12 goals in seven? He’ll fancy it.
The rest of the picture is messier. Espanyol opened their season with a 3-0 thrashing of Levante, then went to Pamplona on 12 September and won 2-0 at Osasuna. Everything since has been a struggle. A 1-1 with Sevilla, then the 2-1 loss at Rayo and that ugly 3-1 home defeat to Elche, a result that dropped them into the bottom six and left Gonzalez weighing changes at both ends.
It’s worth remembering what this side looked like a year ago. In the first half of last season, Espanyol played like a Champions League outfit. The second half collapsed, and they slid to 11th. The talent didn’t disappear. The consistency did.
Team news is mixed. Javi Puado and Kike Garcia remain sidelined, and Jofre Carreras faces a late fitness test on a groin problem. On the plus side, right-back Omar El Hilali is back after serving his suspension, and Javier Hernandez has shaken off a knock and should start in the number 10 role behind Fernandez. That’s two starters back at once.
On the road, Espanyol are a more convincing outfit than their table position suggests. Their away record reads two wins from five, worth 1.2 points per game, better than what they’ve managed at home. They’ve also scored in every match they’ve played this season. Every single one.
And then there’s the history. Unbeaten in 12 meetings with Malaga since the start of 2013-14. Five straight wins. Three clean sheets in their last three visits to La Rosaleda. That record tells you everything you need to know about the mental side of this fixture.
Probable lineup Malaga: Herrero; Rafita, Recio, Berrocal, Puga; Rodriguez; Larrubia, Dotor, Lorenzo, Chupe; Jauregi
Probable lineup Espanyol: Dmitrovic; El Hilali, Nunez, Cabrera, Hinojo; Exposito, Gonzalez; Calatrava, J. Hernandez, Zaragoza; R. Fernandez
Free Football Prediction: Malaga vs Espanyol
Our prediction: Espanyol win or draw (double chance X2) at 1.51
Malaga are the lowest scorers in La Liga, they’ve never scored more than once in a game this season, and they’re missing four players through injury plus a loanee who can’t face his parent club. Against a side that’s found the net in every match and has a six-goal striker leading the line, that’s a big ask.
History backs it up. Espanyol haven’t lost to Malaga in 12 meetings since 2013-14, they’ve won the last five, and they’ve kept clean sheets on each of their last three trips to La Rosaleda. Malaga’s last win in this fixture came in March 2012. That doesn’t change because of one international break.
A home win at 2.62 is the market tempting you to believe in a turnaround. We don’t. The double chance on Espanyol at 1.51 covers the scrappy draw that this fixture can produce and backs the side with the better striker, the better squad and the better record. That’s the bet.
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