Espanyol reach the top

The season is only 8 games in, but Espanyol continue to exceed expectations as tonight’s 1-0 win over Udinese put the Spanish side top of the pile in Division 2.

The result sees the catalan side extend their unbeaten run to 6 games.

In Verratti, Espanyol have a true leader, who is playing the best football of his career in the gameworld. Averaging a 7.5 rating, and also chipping in with 4 assists, his vision is getting the very best out of Muller and Cavani who have hit 9 goals between them. The three veterans are the heart beat of the side right now, though the manager is quick to praise his young defence.

“We’ve Hickey, Zabarnyi and Pacho all 21 , playing with Gomez 23, whilst we’ve also Senesi in there too. Its a very inexperienced defence on paper, but the goals against column of just 7 has been key to the teams success. They are holding the Fort very well which is allowing our higher rated veterans to express themselves to the maximum. We are not getting carried with the start, there is a long way to go, some top teams to face and some bumps to overcome. However we can be proud of the efforts to date. Our squad is becoming settled now with just Mane to arrive mid-season to boost our attacking options. We are not actively looking for players, as I’m extremely happy with the squad and options, with the only likely addition to be a youth player added to the database when the right opportunity presents itself. Our aims have not changed despite the start, staying up is our number one priority and until that’s achieved we will need to keep on our toes and hope for some luck.”