What effect will the early coaching change have?
It took eight matchdays before the first coach was dismissed in the Spanish La Liga. In our Oviedo vs. Espanyol Barcelona tip, Luis Carrion will be sitting on the bench of the promoted team for the first time this season. However, the 46-year-old is by no means an unknown quantity.
In the 2023/24 season, the Spanish coach guided the Carbayones through their second division campaign and even almost led the club back to La Liga. However, Carrion failed in the playoff final. The opponent at that time was the same opponent with whom his new tenure at Oviedo begins in the Oviedo vs. Espanyol Barcelona prediction.
His last job as head coach was short-lived. Luis Carrion started the previous season as coach of Las Palmas. However, he had to leave the club quickly after only 0.33 points per game in the first nine matches of the season.
In the Oviedo – Espanyol Barcelona odds from German betting providers, including Bet-at-Home, the home team is marked as slight underdogs. The situation couldn’t be clearer – the visitors have yet to win an away game in this La Liga season (2D, 1L).
The promoted team urgently needs solutions for the final third of the pitch. No other La Liga team has scored fewer goals than Oviedo (4) this season. With a value of 6.60 xG (18th), there is not much to be done in the league comparison either. In return, only Girona (17) has conceded more goals than the La Liga returnees (14).
Oviedo – Espanyol Barcelona Head-to-head record
As mentioned in the introduction, the hosts have painful memories of their last encounter with “Los Periquitos.” At the end of the 2023/2024 season, Espanyol came back from a 0-1 deficit in the first leg of the playoff return leg to win 2-0 and regain their place in the Spanish top flight.
This continued a trend that ends in our Oviedo vs. Espanyol Barcelona prediction. The last four direct encounters all ended in a win for the home team. However, the visitors’ coach Manolo Gonzales’s team has clearly emerged as the stronger side in the first few weeks of the season (8 games, 12 points, 11:11 goals).
Oviedo – Espanyol Barcelona prediction
The task for Luis Carrion in his second term as Oviedo coach is clear – he is expected to keep the promoted team in the Spanish top flight. To achieve this, it would be particularly beneficial to establish a certain home strength. After four appearances at the Carlos Tartiere Stadium, the results (1W, 3D, 2:8 goals) are rather poor.
Carrion does not have a real top striker at his disposal. Salomon Rondon (36) captained the newly promoted side in their last league game (0-2 vs. Levante), but like the rest of the professionals in the team, he has not scored more than one goal this season.
Espanyol pursues a clear game plan and moves the ball up the field faster than any other team in the Spanish Primera Division (2.01 m/s in possession). Offensive sequences are kept short without losing productivity. 13.63 expected goals is a top-4 value.
However, their away form has been sluggish so far this season, even in their last away game against the league’s weakest defense (0-0 vs. Girona). We therefore expect a close game with few goals, in which “Los Periquitos” will manage to avoid defeat.
