Espanyol are in danger of slipping further down the La Liga standings after losing to Villarreal and Almeria, meaning los Periquitos have got to try and win this game.
Team’s impressive home record was marred by the narrow defeat to Villarreal, but Mauricio Pochettino’s side believe they can return to wining ways even though Real Madrid will be on the other side.
David Garcia has been ruled out with a broken nose, but Baena returns to the starting line-up after recovering from injury. Top scorer Pablo Osvaldo, Ivan de la Pena and Felipe Mattioni remain long-term worries.
Real Madrid returned to winning ways after the shock defeat at Osasuna as they hammered Real Sociedad last weekend and los Merengues now have a good chance to close the gap behind Barcelona, as the Catalans could only take one point from Gijon.
Emmanuel Adebayor will keep his place in the side after scoring against Real Sociedad, while Sami Khedira is set to start with Lassana Diarra dropping to the bench.
Pepe and Ricardo Carvalho will form the centre-back pairing, whereas Jerzy Dudek and Gonzalo Higuain remain sidelined.
Real Madrid are 1.44 (4/9) to win the game at Paddy Power, with price on Espanyol not to lose 2.80 (9/5).
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