Espanyol With Key Injury For Upcoming Matches

Despite coming out of their recent run of form, Espanyol cannot seem to shake the injury bug.  Mauricio Pochettino will not have one of his vital pieces in the starting lineup for the rest of the season.  

Argentine international will be one for the remainder of the La Liga season after fracturing the fifth metatarsal in his rightt foot in Sunday's 2-0 win over Deportivo at Cornellà- El Prat.  For Forlín it was a rather premaure end to his season, especially after making his return to the starting lineup after suffering a fracture in his hand back in February that had him out off the pitch for over three weeks. 

The former Boca Juniors man was the second defender with most minutes played up to this past weekend- fifth overall as far as field players were concerned.  

The approximate recovery time for this types of injury is about three months based on the inital prognosis.  The team's website confirms that Forlín will head to Murcia on Tuesday to be operated on and then begin rehabilitation back in Barcelona during the weekend. 

In the meantime, Espanyol are expecting some much needed offensive firepower to return to their starting lineup.  Pablo Osvaldo and Sergio García are scheduled to return this weekend in Málaga.  Osvaldo, out since January 15th, suffered a serious groin injury against Zaragoza.  The former Bologna man was supposed to make his return to the lineup this past weekend against Deportivo, but the club decided togive him an extra week due to the nature of his injury.   Espanyol are currently in tied for fifth place with 43 points, but have been lost six out of their last eight matches.  They are just a point clear of Athletic and are eight points behind Villarreal for that fourth and final Champions League spot.