Espanyol vs Valencia prediction 23.09.2025 | La Liga

Last season was tough for Espanyol as they ended with only two points more than the drop zone. They seem to be a better team right now, but avoiding relegation surely remains the top priority for Manolo Gonzalez's team. Espanyol opened the 2025/26 season with ten excellent points in the first five matches. They suffered their first defeat of the season in the most recent outing when Espanyol lost 2-0 on the road against Real Madrid. The home side ended the match with 72% ball possession and a significantly higher number of shots on goal, but winning at Santiago Bernabeu is never an easy task, and Espanyol shouldn't be discouraged with the defeat. 

Espanyol lost on Saturday against Real Madrid, but the head coach, Manolo Gonzalez, was still satisfied. He said, "We know that Real Madrid usually dominates. Today, we wanted to prevent their transitions, and we managed to do so, although we lacked the final push to turn the game around. But we didn't give up. The team wasn't out of it at any point."

Pere Milla is suspended and should be the only Espanyol player missing for the upcoming clash against Valencia. 

Valencia had some terrible periods last season, but they survived, and now, Carlos Corberan's team looks much more like a mid-table team. After opening five rounds, Valencia collected seven points. In the previous game, they won 2-0 at home against Athletic Bilbao. The guests were the better team until Daniel Vivian's red card in the 61st minute, but Valencia took complete control since then and recorded a valuable victory.

Valencia kept the clean sheet in the previous La Liga round, but the head coach, Carlos Corberan, was realistic about the defensive problems his team has. He said, "It's vital because without that clean sheet, it's difficult to achieve the result we achieved. The problem is that there's more to the analysis than just the clean sheet, because the team weren't at the level we wanted defensively in the first half. We can't just focus on the clean sheet today. We have to review, analyse, and see what we could have done better defensively to have been more competitive from start to finish."

Valencia should have a full squad for the upcoming clash at RCDE Stadium.