Atlético de Madrid arrive at the RCDE Stadium looking to extend their winning streak to six this season, while Espanyol, who have shown solid form at home, look to reverse their recent lack of success against the red and whites. The match, scheduled for 2 p.m. on Saturday, promises to be a duel of contrasts: the colchonero team with five consecutive wins and the parakeet team with an urgent need for positive results.
In the last ten LaLiga games, Espanyol has achieved only one victory against Atlético, with a score of 2‑1 in August 2025 at the RCDE Stadium. Furthermore, the parakeet team has failed to win two consecutive home games against the rojiblancos since May 2019. For its part, Atlético has failed to win in its last three away games against Espanyol, with a single draw and a loss in the last visit in September 2021. Since May 2007, the team from the city of Madrid has not managed four consecutive visits without losing in Espanyol territory.
Espanyol has shown outstanding scoring ability in the 2026/27 season, scoring in each of its eight LaLiga games with a total of 11 goals. This performance represents their best start to the competition since the 1992/93 campaign, when they scored in their first ten games. Atlético, for its part, has won its last four games in LaLiga, although it has not surpassed its streak of six victories between October and November 2025.
Espanyol has taken advantage of the counterattack with four goals this season, a figure it shares with Barcelona in the five major European leagues. Atlético, on the other hand, have conceded three penalty goals in their last eight LaLiga games, the second time in the 21st century that they have recorded this figure in the first eight games of a season (the first was in 2008/09). In the center of the game, Javi Hernández has been Espanyol's most outstanding player, with five assists in eight games, equaling the record set by Valencia's Gonçalo Guedes in 2017.
In Atlético's attack, Jonathan David has participated in at least one goal in each of his four LaLiga games, with three goals and two assists. His performance places him as a possible third player of the 21st century to score a goal in each of his first five appearances in the competition, along with Rafael van der Vaart and Zlatan Ibrahimović. In defense, Manolo González has maintained an impeccable record in his two home games against Atlético, with a win and a draw, and could become the second Espanyol coach not to lose any of his first three home games against the rojiblancos, after Mauricio Pochettino in 2011.
Atlético's coach, Diego Pablo Simeone, has recorded four draws in his 12 visits to the RCDE Stadium in LaLiga, with a balance of four wins and four losses. Only in three visiting stadiums have they achieved five or more draws in the competition, such as the Bernabéu Stadium, the Ciutat de València and La Cerámica. With these data in the air, the match promises to be a tactical confrontation where Espanyol's strength at home and Atlético's form this season could decide the final result.