Espanyol vs Getafe preview - Espanyol aim to bounce back

Espanyol will be looking for a positive response against Getafe on Sunday after their unbeaten start to the season was ended by Villarreal in midweek.

The Catalan club were beaten 2-1 by Marcelino's side at El Madrigal, conceding a goal in the first minute and then another in the second half, before Sergio Garcia's late goal gave them hope of grabbing an equaliser, which never came.

After the game, coach Javier Aguirre had no problem admitting his side had been second best on the night.

"Losing always hurts but the way we lost means it hurts less," he told the post-match press conference.

"When you finish the game still with a chance and the result is fair, it leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.

"The opposition were better than us, and that's that."

The Mexican coach made eight changes to his starting line-up against Villarreal than from the team that beat Athletic Bilbao 3-2 three days earlier.

"I made the changes to give the team a bit of freshness and give the players that deserved to play a chance, but it didn't work," he said of the rotations.

Aguirre's side have proved very hard to beat at their El Prat stadium this season, winning two of their three games there and drawing one.

Against Getafe the coach is set to recall Christian Stuani, David Lopez and Victor Sanchez in midfield, while Diego Colotto and Javi Lopez could return in defence.

Getafe head to Barcelona on the back of a morale boosting 2-0 win at home to Celta Vigo.

Like Aguirre, coach Luis Garcia Plaza made changes for that game, bringing in Borja Fernandez for the suspended Michel, and he now has a difficult decision to make with the latter available again.

Angel Lafita, Sergio Escudero and Juan Valera will miss the game through injury, meaning Pablo Sarabia, Alvaro Arroya - who scored the scored goal against Celta - and Roberto Lago are all set to keep their place in the starting line-up.