Real Madrid host Espanyol in what they’ll try to make their first home win of this young La Liga season. Los Blancos will be without Marcelo, Theo Hernandez, Dani Carvajal, Mateo Kovacic, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema, meaning that they’ll have a depleted defensive line where they’ll need the likes of Nacho Fernandez or Achraf Hakimi to step up and deliver.

Madrid have been atrocious at the Bernabeu so far in La Liga. They drew against Valencia and Levante and lost last week when trying to beat Betis during the last few minutes of the game.

It clearly seems that the home match against Espanyol should be the one game where Los Blancos finally earn the three points at home, but things could get ugly if they lack the accuracy they need to get the lead.

There’s a FIFA break right after this game so Zidane will almost surely deploy his best available team knowing that some players will recover during these two weeks.

MATCH INFO

Date: 10/01/2017

Time: 20:45 CET, 02:45pm EST, 11:45 am Pacific.

Venue: Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid, Spain.

HOW TO WATCH, STREAM LA LIGA

Available TV: BeIN Sports (USA), Sky Sports Football (UK), Canal+ Partidazo (Spain).

Available Streaming: BeIN Sports (USA), Fubo.TV (EVERY Real Madrid game with a high-quality and legal stream, click here to sign up and benefit from a summer discount for new members and Managing Madrid readers).

CONFIRMED LINEUPS

Real Madrid starting XI: Keylor Navas, Achraf, Varane, Sergio Ramos, Nacho, Casemiro, Toni Kroos, Modric, Isco, Marco Asensio, Ronaldo.

Espanyol starting XI: Pau López; Sergio Sánchez, David López, Mario Hermoso, Aarón; Marc Roca, Javi Fuego, Jurado, Darder, Baptistao, Gerard Moreno.