Malaga host Espanyol at Estadio La Rosaleda on 9 October 2026 in La Liga's Matchday 8 and neither side can afford another bad result. Malaga sit bottom with three points from seven games (no wins, three draws, four defeats), while Espanyol are 15th with seven points but have also lost four times. Both come into this one off successive defeats, with the international break changing nothing for either manager. Malaga remain winless in the 2026/27 campaign and need something from this to avoid sliding further into the relegation zone, whereas Espanyol need to start climbing away from the lower half before the season gets away from them.
Malaga's last five results spell L L D D L, with narrow losses to Getafe (0-1 on 20 September) and Villarreal (1-3 on 17 September) telling the same story: they're struggling to turn possession into chances, let alone goals. Espanyol aren't in much better shape, their sequence reading L L W D L and including a 1-3 defeat to Elche on 18 September. Two sides with a combined seven goals from 14 games aren't likely to produce a thriller.
Juan Francisco Funes Arjona, who took over from Sergio Pellicer in November 2025, has a serious defensive headache going into this one. Fernando Calero, Julen Lobete, Diego Murillo and Aaron Ochoa are all out injured, with Adam Aznou a doubt as well, leaving a side already leaking goals even more exposed than usual.
Espanyol's Manolo Gonzalez, in the job since March 2024, is dealing with his own injury concerns: Javi Puado and Kike Garcia are both unavailable, while Jofre Carreras is a doubt with a groin problem. The one piece of good news for the visitors is Omar El Hilali returning from suspension to fill the right back spot, which at least gives Gonzalez one fewer problem to solve.
Malaga's 4-1-4-1 is built around possession but with three goals in seven games they're the worst attack in the division and a depleted defensive and midfield core makes the whole structure more fragile still. Chupe is expected to lead the line after a stint on the bench, with Dotor as the main creative outlet in midfield and Jauregi providing another forward option.
Espanyol line up in a 4-2-3-1 and have been inconsistent but they have Roberto Fernandez, who has six goals in seven league games, returning to test a side missing Calero, Murillo and Ochoa in defence. The Dotor versus Fernandez battle is probably the game's most consequential matchup: whether Dotor can control midfield or Fernandez gets enough service to do damage.
Espanyol have won the last five meetings between these sides, with Malaga's most recent victory coming roughly 14 years ago, though whether that carries over into a completely different season and squad context is debatable.
Fernandez against a defence missing three starters is the clearest mismatch in this game. Malaga's injury crisis makes it genuinely hard to contain a striker in his form and a team with three goals from seven games isn't going to outscore the visitors. Malaga might nick one through midfield creativity since Dotor is good enough to cause problems but Fernandez's six goals and Espanyol's five consecutive wins in this fixture point to one outcome. 2-1 to the visitors.
Ryan Baldi
Football Writer
Ryan Baldi is a professional football writer with years of experience and has been featured by respected outlets such as the BBC, The Guardian, Sky Sports, DAZN, FourFourTwo, ESPN, Yahoo Sport and Football365. He has also written several books including Arsène Who?.
