Wolves v Espanyol Betting Tips [20 February 2020]

Nuno Espirito Santo’s Wolves team will come into this tie as heavy favourites to advance to the next round as they take on Espanyol who are rock bottom in La Liga. Wolves are enjoying another solid season domestically sitting 8th in the Premier League but they, similarly to Espanyol, have only one win from their last five games and drew with Leicester City last Friday night to leave them without a win in three. Nonetheless, the English side will be full of confidence having finished 2nd in their Europa League group with 13 points. A total that would have been good enough to win six of their other 11 groups including Espanyol’s as the Spanish club racked up 11 points on their way to topping Group H. Wolves won two of their three home games in the group and battered Besiktas 4-0 to finish that phase of the competition back in December. Wolves are guilty of drawing a lot of game at home with six of their 13 Premier League games ending in a stalemate but they can boast a victory over Manchester City here. 

As for the hosts their European outings have been a lot more productive than their domestic meetings. Espanyol scored 12 goals in six games in their group but they have mustered just 21 goals in 24 La Liga games this season which is the second-worst attack in the division, hence the reason they are struggling at the foot of the table. Espanyol did start the year with back-to-back wins on the road but they have lost two of their three games when travelling since. A 2-2 draw away at Sevilla was a good result for the Catalan club and it showed they have potential to cause teams problems away from home. In the group stage they also went unbeaten on the road with two wins from their three games including an impressive 2-0 win away to CSKA Moscow. 

One thing that always stands out about Wolves is their shape and their rigid backline. Leicester struggled to fathom any real opportunities here last week and I see Espanyol finding the same problems. Therefore I’m going to tip a home win to-nil in this game.