By Joshua Ojele

Copyright sportskeeda

Espanyol and Valencia kick off round six of Spanish LaLiga when they lock horns at the RCDE Stadium on Tuesday. The last five meetings between the two teams have ended all square, a run stretching back to December 2021, when Espanyol secured a 2-1 victory at the Mestalla Stadium.Espanyol suffered their first defeat of the LaLiga campaign on Saturday as they were beaten 2-0 by Real Madrid, when the two sides square off at the Santiago Bernabeu.Prior to that, Manolo Gonzalez’s side kicked off the season with one draw and three wins from their opening four games, seeing off Atletico Madrid, Osasuna and Mallorca, respectively.Espanyol have picked up 10 points from the first 12 available to sit fourth in the LaLiga standings, three points and seven places above this weekend’s visitors.On the oher hand, Baptiste Santamaria and Hugo Duro scored inside the final 20 minutes on Saturday to fire Valencia to a 2-0 victory over Athletic Club at the Mestalla.This was a much-needed response from Carlos Corberan’s men after their 6-0 hammering at the hands of Barcelona, when the two sides met at the Estadi Johan Cruyff on September 14.Saturday’s result over Athletic Club was Valencia’s second victory in eight LaLiga matches and they will travel to the RCDE Stadium seeking successive league wins for the first time since beating Las Palmas and Getafe back in May.Espanyol vs Valencia Head-To-Head and Key NumbersValencia holds the upper hand in the history of this fixture, having won 24 of the last 50 meetings between the two teams.Espanyol have picked up 14 wins in that time, while the spoils have been shared on 12 occasions.Valencia have managed just one win from their last five La Liga away matches while losing three and claiming one draw since mid April.Espanyol are unbeaten in 11 of their 13 home games in the league this year, picking up seven wins and four draws so far.Espanyol vs Valencia PredictionWith their only defeat this season coming against Real Madrid, Espanyol have proven tough to crack so far and will be backing themselves against an inconsistent Valencia side.While Corberan’s men picked up a huge result against Athletic Club at the weekend, they have struggled to impose themselves on the road and we predict Espanyol will do just enough to return to winning ways in front of their home crowd.Prediction: Espanyol 2-1 ValenciaEspanyol vs Valencia Betting TipsTip 1: Result – Espanyol to winTip 2: First to score – Espanyol (The hosts have opened the scoring in seven of their last nine games)Tip 3: Over 10.5 goals – No (There have also been fewer than 11 goals in six of Espanyol’s last seven outings)