Taking a gander at the recent history, you'll see a healthy mix of past triumphs and defeats. Just this February, Espanyol held the upper hand, defeating Mallorca 2 to 1. But when you peel back the layers and look at the recent efforts, Mallorca does seem to be stretching their legs a bit, with a 4-2-2 record in the season.
While Espanyol finds themselves nursing a slightly less harmonious 2-1-5 record. If I had the ear of a stat woodland creature, I’d probably be whispering about Mallorca's goalkeeper Dominik Greif with his 7.05 rating and 7 saves. Nipping at his heels, we have Leo Román, boasting a 6.8 rating and 5 saves.
On the other hand, our solo superstar between the sticks for Espanyol, Joan García, boasts a 7.88 rating with an impressive 26 saves. Impressive, muy impresionante!
From the realms of the outfield players, we've got the likes of Pablo Maffeo at Mallorca, who's dripping in finesse with 77.8% accurate pass even if his goal tally is a round 0. Toss in Antonio Raíllo, just topping Maffeo's passing accuracy with a snazzy 83.8%, and we've got some real playmakers here. Espanyol has a fired up Javi Puado who's not afraid to take a crack at the net with his 3 goals from 4 shots on goal.
Looking purely at the regular season, one might be tempted to hand it to Mallorca. Examining the talent on each side, it seems an evenly stacked game. Now, some may say I'm as unpredictable as a badger in a bounce house, but when it comes to making predictions, I prefer to call it having a unique insight.
Albert’s Prediction: Mallorca by 1