Espanyol welcomes Zorya

Espanyol welcomes Zorya in a first leg from the Europa League playoffs on Thursday. Let’s take a look at this fixture at the RCDE Stadium in Barcelona in our Europa League predictions for today.

Espanyol successfully reached the playoffs of the competition after eliminating the Swiss side Luzern in the previous round. Los Pericos dominated both games, winning them with the same result – 3-0.

In the second leg the Catalans finished what they started on Swiss soil. Wu Lei opened the score for the hosts, while Victor Campuzano finished Luzern with a brace.

During the weekend Espanyol started the new season in La Liga with a defeat, though. David Gallego’s team hosted Sevilla at home, but suffered a 0-2 defeat against the Andalusians.

The Ukrainian team Zorya reached the Europa League playoffs after doing the job against Bulgarian side CSKA Sofia in the third round.

The first leg in Sofia ended with a 1-1 draw, but in Zaporozhye Zorya won the second game with 1-0. The only goal in the game was scored in the last few minutes, when Nazariy Rusyn scored for the hosts. He also recieved a second yellow card, so Rusyn won’t be avaliable for the first leg against Espanyol.

In the Ukrainian Premier League Zorya are second in the standing after the first four rounds. They have 7 points won so far. In their last game Zorya conceded a loss, though. Viktor Skripnik’s team hosted Oleksandria, but conceded a 1-2 defeat. Bogdan Lednev scored for the hosts, but Kovalets’ brace for the visitors secured them the win.

These are our Europa League predictions for today the match between Espanyol and Zorya on Thursday. Playing at home in Barcelona, Los Pericos will try to achieve a good lead before the second leg in Ukraine. They are the obvious favourite here.