Roberto Fernández scores twice and Levante do not have a single shot on target

Five minutes. That is how long Espanyol needed to score the goal that shaped the evening, Roberto Fernández getting the first of his two.

He got the second on 40 minutes, and by half-time this was a game with only one plausible ending.

Nothing at all from Levante

The visitors took four shots in the whole match and put none of them on target. Espanyol's goalkeeper was not asked to make a single save. Tyrhys Dolan added the third on 80 minutes against a side that had long since stopped threatening.

Espanyol's 1.55 expected goals against Levante's 0.28 is the polite version. The blunter one: 16 shots to four, six on target to none.

Match facts

• 5' — Roberto Fernández (Espanyol)
• 40' — Roberto Fernández (Espanyol)
• 80' — Tyrhys Dolan (Espanyol)

What's next

Espanyol hosted Real Madrid on Saturday 22 August — the sort of fixture that tells you rather more about a team than an evening like this one. Levante go to Osasuna on Monday 24 August, still looking for their first goal of the season.

Espanyol's next six matchdays

The platform this win gave Espanyol held up, if not the points return. Jude Bellingham's early header put Real Madrid ahead at RCDE Stadium on matchday 2, Cala equalised on 30 minutes, and the game stayed level until Carlos Espí settled it for the visitors in the 90th — a 1-2 defeat. Real Sociedad, still without a point themselves, won 2-1 at Anoeta on matchday 3: Ander Barrenetxea scored inside four minutes, Roberto Fernández levelled right on half-time, and Orri Óskarsson's 61st-minute goal held up as the winner. Matchday 4 brought a point at home to a Sevilla side reduced to ten men from the 56th minute — Lucas Stassin's 85th-minute goal looked set to settle it until Marcos Fernández headed a deep stoppage-time equaliser, 1-1. After the international break, Roberto Fernández scored twice inside 17 minutes at El Sadar to beat Osasuna 2-0 on matchday 5. Rayo Vallecano then won 2-1 at Vallecas, Álvaro García scoring inside three minutes and setting up the second, and ten-man Elche — reduced by a sixth-minute red card yet still leading by half-time — completed a difficult stretch with a 3-1 win at RCDE Stadium on matchday 7, their first league win of the season.

Levante found their first point at the second attempt

Levante's response was slower to build. They followed the opening defeat with a goalless draw at Osasuna on matchday 2, their goalkeeper making seven saves, then picked up their first win of the season on matchday 3: two second-half goals from Roger Brugué overturned a 0-2 half-time deficit to beat Real Betis 5-2 at the Ciutat de València. A goalless draw away to Málaga in matchday 4 made it three matches without defeat, before Barcelona visited on matchday 5 and led 3-0 through Xavi Espart and a Lamine Yamal brace; Levante hit back twice in the final ten minutes before Karim Adeyemi restored the visitors' lead in stoppage time, 4-2. Their matchday-6 fixture against Athletic Club was postponed and still has to be played, leaving them a game behind the rest of the division, and a Comunitat derby defeat followed at Villarreal in matchday 7.

Where that leaves both sides

Seven matchdays on for Espanyol and six for Levante — with that rearranged Athletic Club fixture still outstanding — the two clubs who met on the opening weekend have settled into different parts of the table. Espanyol sit 12th on 7 points from seven games: one win, one draw and four defeats in the six matches since this one, for a return of four points from a possible eighteen, which leaves them six points off the Champions League places held by fifth-placed Sevilla. Levante are 17th on 5 points from six games — one win, two draws and two defeats since the trip to Cornellà — separated from 18th-placed Elche, who sit in the relegation zone, only by goal difference.