Mallorca are one of a number of sides having to rebuild after losing a host of players over the summer.
Joaquin Caparros has nearly lost his entire first-choice defence as Chico, Ivan Ramis, Pau Cendros and Pablo Caceres all left the club.
Just as importantly, Chori Castro, who scored six goals and provided nine assists last season, has also departed, leaving Caparros with a threadbare squad of just 17 senior outfield players.
Antonio Lopez and Javi Marquez should provide good experience should they get over their injury troubles of recent seasons and both are expected to make their debuts this weekend.
The shortage of numbers could also force Emilio Nsue to continue where he finished last season by playing at right-back.
Espanyol have suffered a similar turnaround in numbers due to a number of loan deals they had in place last season coming to an end.
Joan Capdevila and Sergio Tejera have returned to the club where they started their careers and should start but Diego Colotto's competitive debut has been delayed by a foot injury.
Sergio Garcia and Raul Baena are also out injured so youngster Thievy Bifouma could return after being frozen out of the first-team towards the end of last season.
Prediction
This game has the potential to be quite scrappy given the number of changes on both sides over the summer, but equally, due to the limited choice available to both managers, they will probably be forced into selecting more attacking options.
Victor Casadesus and Tomer Hemed scored 17 goals between them for the Islanders last season and should pose a threat, whilst the Catalans will be looking for more of a goal return from Alvaro Vazquez this season as he continues to make noises about a move to a bigger club.
