Espanyol 2 - 0 Malaga: Hernan Perez double helps Espanyol defeat Malaga

Espanyol moved into the top half of the Primera Division after beating Malaga 2-0 thanks to a first-half double from Hernan Perez.

The Paraguay striker opened the scoring with just six minutes played with a well-taken goal, aided by fine work from the irrepressible Marco Asensio, who also played a part in creating Perez's second a quarter of an hour later.

The Catalan side went into this fixture looking for a first win in four matches and they move into the top 10, while Malaga are hovering just above the relegation zone, level on points with Las Palmas but occupying 17th spot.

Although recent results make grim reading for Malaga, this was in fact an encouraging performance from Javi Gracia's side.

The visitors could have taken the lead before the game was a minute old as veteran midfielder Duda's pass found Nordin Amrabat, but the Moroccan striker's shot was well saved by Espanyol custodian Pau Lopez.

The visitors had a couple more attempts at goal but soon found themselves a goal down when Asensio launched a counter-attack, playing in Perez inside the area, and the former Villarreal player beat a defender before striking past Carlos Kameni.

Lopez made another important save to deny Amrabat and again the visitors were made to pay, this time Perez sending a cross from Rafael Fuentes past Kameni in another move started by Asensio.

Even though two goals down, Malaga did everything to try and get back into the game but the closest they came to scoring was with Ricardo Horta's driven effort, which struck the post.