Las Palmas vs Espanyol Betting Tips & Predictions

Las Palmas’ fine run of form came to an end on Tuesday when they slipped to a late 1-0 defeat at Real Betis. They had been reduced to 10 men in the first half due to Aythami Artiles’ red card though and won’t be losing too much sleep on the loss given they’d won 6 of their previous 8 matches to move to 40 points and all but guarantee themselves safety. Their run-in isn’t too difficult either and they’ll have every chance of finishing in the top half, which would be a great achievement for the newly promoted club.

Espanyol may still need another point or two to guarantee their safety. They are in 15th with 37 points but if a couple of the sides below them end the season well, they could still find themselves in trouble particularly if they get beaten here. They still have a Barcelona derby at Camp Nou to play and have only picked up 2 points from their last 4 matches following Tuesday’s 1-1 draw at home to Celta Vigo. They have won just 1 of their last 15 away matches so don’t exactly travel to Gran Canaria full of confidence.

The home side are the favourites but they may feel the hard work has been done now and there could be a tendency to take their foot off the pedal and they may struggle to match the intensity they were playing with when they were really scrapping for their lives. Goals certainly look likely here. Both teams have scored in all of Espanyol’s last 5 away games and 8 of their 9 matches on the road in 2016. Both teams have also scored in 5 of Las Palmas’ last 6 home games. Therefore backing both teams to score at 19/20 looks to offer good value in this one.