Espanyol vs Wolves preview

Team news, stats and prediction as Wolves travel to face Espanyol in the last 32 of the Europa League.

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Team news

Wolves have travelled to Barcelona without injured defender Jonny Otto, who was forced off in Wolves' Premier League win over Norwich last Sunday.

Nuno Espirito Sato revealed the defender was on the receiving end of a "strong kick" at Molineux.

"Jonny is not OK," said the Wolves boss. "You saw the images, there was a very strong impact. He's in pain, but he's going through the normal procedures and hopefully he doesn't stay out very long."

Espanyol boss Abelardo Fernandez indicated at his press conference he could make a number of personnel changes for what he has admitted is an "almost impossible" mission.

"Some players will be left out for technical reasons and some are injured and I don't want to risk them," he said.

"It's almost impossible - we know that - but we will be looking to put up a good fight. We are going to try and win the game."

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Opta stats

• Espanyol are looking to overturn a 0-4 deficit from the first leg match against Wolves. In UEFA Cup/Europa League history, there have been 221 previous occasions of a side losing a first leg by four or more goals - two of these sides have progressed (FK Partizan vs QPR in 1984-85 and Real Madrid vs Borussia Mönchengladbach in 1985-86).
• Espanyol's only previous home game against an English opponent was in the 1961-62 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, beating Birmingham City 5-2.
• Including qualifiers, Wolves are unbeaten in their six away games in European competition this season (W5 D1), scoring17 goals in the process.
• Wolves' only previous away match vs Spanish opponents ended in a 0-4 defeat, though this was back in February 1960 against Barcelona in the European Cup.
• Wolves' forward Diogo Jota is the joint-top goalscorer in the 2019-20 UEFA Europa League with six goals - all of these goals have come in his last two appearances, via hat-tricks against Besiktas and Espanyol.

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Charlie Nicholas' prediction

Wolves seem to have got over a spell of tiredness and confidence is building.

Diogo Jota is fit and Willy Boly has come back in. Ruben Neves has picked up a bit of form, while Raul Jimenez's eyes have lit up since Jota has started firing. I also like Pedro Neto, who looks a tidy player.

They are in the shake-up for the top four and have some decent fixtures coming up. The job is done for me from the first leg so I think Nuno Espirito Santo will make four or five changes.

I am going to tip them to lose. Espanyol may be bottom of La Liga but they are still a decent side. With plenty of changes, nothing to worry about for Nuno.

CHARLIE PREDICTS: Espanyol 2-1 Wolves (10/1 with Sky Bet)

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