Valencia vs Espanyol - Gary Neville staying calm as Valencia look to end winless run

Posted Friday, February 12, 2016 by PA

Gary Neville will be calm in the eye of the storm as his Valencia side again bid to end their winless Primera Division run against struggling Espanyol.

Valencia have failed to win any of their 10 league games since Neville took over as manager two months ago and he accepts they must pick up three points at the Mestalla on Saturday.

At his pre-match press conference, Neville said: "There can be a hurricane on the outside but you have to be in the eye of the storm on the inside.

"I haven't seen the players panic and they haven't seen me panic. There's been no huge sway to behave in a different way the last few weeks of results.

"We've not changed tack, we've not changed the way in which we work. We believe in our work and proving ourselves. We cannot believe we'll continue to have that misfortune in front of goal we've had the last few matches.

"We have to win tomorrow and that's what we're focusing on. I understand the build-up to this game externally - it's a final.

"From my point of view there are still 14 games to go after this and nothing will be decided on Saturday. A victory doesn't mean that everything's perfect.

"But we're playing Espanyol and we expect to win."

Valencia go into the match having held Barcelona to a 1-1 draw in the Copa del Rey in midweek - albeit after trailing 7-0 from the first leg.

Espanyol are in equally poor form having not won a league game in almost two months, and their last two matches have resulted in a 6-0 loss to Real Madrid and a 5-0 defeat to Real Sociedad.

Defender Alvaro told the club wesbite: "The team bottomed out. We are experiencing the worst of the season but we all looked each other in the face and we agreed that we must be more united than ever and reach the level of last season to get salvation."