On paper, this was a golden opportunity for Villarreal to use their game in hand over their main rivals for Europe's top table, Real Betis.
And while the intent was there from the Yellow Submarine in a goalless opening 45’, technology would play a significant part in denying them an opener.
Just before the quarter-hour mark, Juan Foyth met a Nicolas Pepe cross into the box and was flattened in a midair duel with Joan Garcia. Referee Juan Munuera initially awarded a penalty, but quickly reversed that call after consulting the VAR monitor.
Still yet to lose against a team starting the gameweek outside the top six, Villarreal remained the more menacing side and looked to have finally taken the lead just after the clock ticked past the half-hour.
A quick break forward saw an initial shot from Santi Comesana parried away by Garcia and tucked in by Thierno Barry, but an offside call ensured that the Frenchman would be forced to wait for his 11th goal of the season.
As the second half kicked off, some of the Villarreal faithful may have been wondering if there was some psychological baggage from a run of just one win in four league outings.
But they needn’t have worried, as the hosts finally broke the deadlock in the 52nd minute with some static defending from Espanyol allowing Comesana to find Pepe, whose slick pass found a lurking Yeremy Pino inside the box. Without hesitation, Pino side-footed beyond a statuesque Garcia for his third goal of the campaign.
The goal also marked his first goalscoring appearance in meetings with Espanyol since February 2022. That goal had been the first of four for him in a 5-1 rout, but after a disallowed Villarreal goal, Espanyol refused to collapse as they did back then and rallied beyond the hour mark.
They duly created two good chances to equalise, both of which fell to Javi Puado, who firstly forced a save from Luiz Junior on the half volley, before hitting the side netting with an attempted finish at the far post from a long cross.
Villarreal should have finished the match as a contest 10 minutes from time, when another break forward caught the Espanyol defence out yet again.
A combination of Barry and Pepe found Tajon Buchanan inside the box, but he side-footed agonisingly wide of the bottom-left corner with a first-time shot despite being unmarked.
However, Espanyol lacked the firepower to punish that, duly seeing their unbeaten league run ended at five games. Meanwhile, Villarreal’s Champions League fate is now back in their own hands with five LaLiga rounds remaining.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Nicolas Pepe (Villarreal)