Spurs loan watch: La Liga round up

On Friday night, Alejo Veliz was the first Spurs loanee to feature this weekend, as his RCD Espanyol side hosted Sevilla on Friday night. The Catalonian side were looking to bounce back from four defeats in their previous five games, including  4-1 hammering at Athletic Club last time out.

For this game, Veliz was named amongst the substitutes. Rumoured Spurs target Javi Puado started the game.

It was a very tough start to the game for Espanyol, as Sevilla scored two first half goals – despite only having ten goals in their opening ten games – to go into the break with a healthy two goal lead.

Espanyol were not showing much of a response in the second half, and turned to Veliz after 58 minutes, as he replaced Walid Cheddira. In a rare occurrence, the young striker actually had two presentable opportunities.

The first came after 71 minutes, where he headed wide following a corner kick. Then, seven minutes later, from another corner, he again headed wide. It is encouraging that, unlike in other games, he is getting these opportunities – albeit from set piece situations rather than from open play chance creation.

There has been talk coming out of the Spanish press recently, suggesting that Veliz’ struggles are “symptomatic of wider problems at the Catalan club”, rather than the striker himself.

It showed again here, with Espanyol only having 42% possession, despite being behind in the game from the 20th minute. They had more xG, but the stats suggest that was only due to shot accumulation – with the visitors having the only opta defined big chance of the entire game.

This defeat leaves Espanyol 15th in La Liga, just two points above the relegation zone, and four points above the foot of the league. By the end of the gameweek, once everyone has played their games in hand, Veliz’ side could find themselves in the bottom three.

Meanwhile, Bryan Gil’s Girona side made the trip to the Canary Islands as they faced Las Palmas. Unfortunately, Gil was once again ruled out for this game. In his absence, Girona fell to a 1-0 defeat, and now sit 13th in La Liga, with 12 points from their 11 games.

Next up for Espanyol is a trip to sixth tier side San Tirso SD in the Copa Del Rey. Girona, meanwhile, will also face a lower league side, as they face fifth tier side CD Extremadura in the same competition.

Espanyol’s game is on Thursday, at 18:00 GMT, whilst Girona play on Wednesday, at 20:00 GMT.