Primera Liga matches, March 1 and 2
Although they have not beaten city rivals Barcelona at the Nou Camp for 23 years, Espanyol believe they are in a position to end the negative sequence when they meet their neighbours on Tuesday (kickoff 2100 GMT).
Although they have not beaten city rivals Barcelona at the Nou Camp for 23 years, Espanyol believe they are in a position to end the negative sequence when they meet their neighbours on Tuesday (kickoff 2100 GMT).
"We are going there with the intention of breaking the jinx," says former Barca striker Dani. "We know that Barcelona are in excellent form and their confidence is high, but we are also having a good season and it's a great chance for us to win."
Accustomed to slugging it out at the bottom of the table to avoid relegation, Espanyol have been transformed under coach Miguel Angel Lotina this season and an impressive campaign has put them in the hunt for the Champions League places.
A 2-1 win at home to Albacete at the weekend left them just a point behind third placed Sevilla.
Barcelona were held to a 1-1 draw at basement club Numancia on Saturday, although they still managed to extend their lead at the top of the table to eight points after Real Madrid slumped to a second successive defeat when they went down 2-0 at Deportivo Coruna.
But Frank Rijkaard's side are anxious to keep their arch-rivals at arm's length.
"We have to maintain this advantage because Real are a strong team and are still very much in the title race," says Mexican defender Rafael Marquez. "Espanyol are a good side and they are having a good season so I think it's going to be a very close game."
Barca are likely to be without Brazilian fullback Juliano Belletti and winger Ludovic Giuly, who sustained back injuries in the draw at Numancia, while Espanyol will be missing the influential Ivan de la Pena.
The midfielder did not play in the Albacete match but was booked, and then suspended, for questioning one of the referee's decisions in the tunnel at halftime.
Other matches being played this week (kickoffs 1900 GMT unless stated; league positions in brackets):
Wednesday:
ALBACETE (18) v OSASUNA (14)
Osasuna will be licking their wounds after their 6-1 humiliation at home to Malaga and will be desperate to end their eight-match winless run against struggling Albacete, who also lost at the weekend.
GETAFE (16) v DEPORTIVO CORUNA (10)
Depor will be hoping that their 2-0 win over Real Madrid marks the start of a drive up the table to join the hunt for the European places. Getafe, who did not play at the weekend, have taken some high-profile scalps at their home stadium this season.
LEVANTE (13) v NUMANCIA (20)
There were morale-boosting results for both teams at the weekend. Levante won their second game in 15 when they came from behind to beat Mallorca 2-1, while Numancia scrapped it out for a valuable 1-1 draw against leaders Barca.
MALAGA (12) v ATHLETIC BILBAO (9)
Malaga continued their revival with a 6-1 away thrashing of Osasuna to make it three wins on the trot and move eight points clear of the drop zone. Opponents Bilbao will be anxious to bounce back after Sunday's disappointing exit from the UEFA Cup at the hands of Austria Vienna.
RACING SANTANDER (17) v ATLETICO MADRID (8)
Improving Racing were in fine form in their 2-2 draw against Sevilla, but can ill afford to relax as they still remain just two points above the danger zone. Atletico ground out a 1-0 win at home to Real Sociedad, but have not travelled well this season.
REAL MADRID (2) v REAL BETIS (5) 2000
Real lost further ground to Barcelona at the top when they slipped to their second successive defeat with a 2-0 loss at Deportivo on Saturday.
Coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo has a host of injury worries to concern him too. Zinedine Zidane will almost certainly miss out because of a groin strain, right back Michel Salgado is on the sidelines for a month with a knee ligament injury and fellow defender Raul Bravo (leg), midfielder Guti (leg) and Raul (flu) are all serious doubts.
The good news for Luxemburgo is that Ronaldo looks to have recovered from a toe injury. Betis will be without Brazilian free kick expert Marcos Assuncao, who was sent off during his side's 2-1 defeat at Valencia.
REAL SOCIEDAD (15) v REAL ZARAGOZA (11)
Sociedad's Darko Kovacevic is out suspended, while strike partner Nihat Kahveci is out for the rest of the season after undergoing surgery to deal with a knee ligament injury. Oscar de Paula is likely to step in to lead the front line against a Zaragoza, who inflicted a rare defeat on Villarreal on Sunday.
SEVILLA (3) v VALENCIA (4)
Claudio Ranieri's replacement Antonio Lopez got off to a winning start as Valencia coach with his side turning in one of their best performances of the season to come from a goal down to beat Betis 2-1 at the Mestalla. Betis's city rivals Sevilla are likely to provide an even stiffer test for last season's Champions.
VILLARREAL (7) v REAL MALLORCA (19)
Villarreal slipped to only their second defeat in 12 games when they lost 1-0 to Zaragoza at the weekend, but they should still prove too powerful for Hector Cuper's strugglers who have only won once in their last four outings.