Just three days after playing the likes of Cadiz and Alaves respectively, Espanyol and Real Betis will lock horns in another La Liga Matchday.

Los Beticos will be hoping to complete a perfect week and make it three wins on the trot as they travel to Cornella de Llobregat to tackle bottom-half Espanyol in the first fixture of Gameweek No 22 in La Liga.

Real Betis suffered back-to-back defeats to Athletic Bilbao and Celta Vigo in the last game of 2021 and the first game of 2022.

However, they managed to arrest such a slump in form by winning three and drawing one of the following four affairs since.

The team led by Manuel Pellegrini showed impressive performances in a 2-1 win over local rivals Sevilla in the last 16 round of Copa del Rey on Sunday and in the home drubbing of Deportivo Alaves just two days later in La Liga.

Borja Iglesias was the most inspiring Betis’ man on Tuesday as his first-half brace cleared the path for an easy victory at Estadio Benito Villamarin.

Pellegrini’s troops are thus still third in La Liga ladder and they look great in the battle for the Champions League football next season.

Espanyol are in a completely opposite rhythm of late. They lost three of the last five league outings and also fell to Mallorca (2-1 on the road) in the weekend’s Copa del Rey action in between these defeats.

The lack of defensive meticulousness has been the main source of problems for Vicente Moreno and his troops since the team did not keep a clean sheet in nine successive games across competitions ahead of mid-week’s clash against Cadiz.



译文(自动翻译仅供参考):

在分别与加的斯和阿拉维斯的比赛仅仅三天之后，西班牙人和皇家贝蒂斯将在另一个西甲比赛日发生冲突。

在西甲第22场比赛的第一场比赛中，贝蒂科斯队将对阵西班牙人队，他们希望完成一个完美的一周，并取得三场胜利。

皇家贝蒂斯在2021年的最后一场比赛和2022年的第一场比赛中连续败给了毕尔巴鄂竞技队和维戈塞尔塔队。

但是，在3胜1负的情况下，在4场比赛中取得了1胜1负的成绩。

曼努埃尔·佩莱格里尼率领的英格兰队在上周日举行的国王杯16强比赛中以2-1战胜了当地劲敌塞维利亚，并在两天后的西甲主场大胜拉科鲁尼亚。

博尔哈·伊格莱西亚斯是贝蒂斯在周二最鼓舞人心的球员，他在上半场的进球为贝尼托·维拉玛林球场轻松取胜扫清了道路。

佩莱格里尼的球队在西甲联赛中仍然排名第三，他们在下赛季的欧冠联赛中表现出色。

西班牙人最近的节奏完全相反。在过去的五场联赛中，他们输掉了三场，在这两场比赛之间，他们还在周末的国王杯中(客场2-1)输给了马洛卡。

缺乏一丝不苟的防守已经成为莫雷诺和他的球队的主要问题，因为在周中对阵加的斯之前，球队已经连续九场比赛没有保持不失球。