Two sides that have made contrasting starts to the La Liga season go head to head in the Spanish top flight this weekend as Sevilla host reigning champions Barcelona.
The Europa League cup holders have struggled so far, winning just one of their first six matches in the league, while Luis Enrique's side have dropped points in just one fixture.
Sevilla
© AFP
Sevilla finally picked up their first league win of the season last time out, having scored a late winner in a 3-2 victory over Rayo Vallecano last Saturday, with Yehven Konoplyanka netting a late goal.
Unai Emery's side had lost three of their four previous fixtures going into that match, but have been in action in the Champions League since, losing 2-0 to Juventus in their second outing in the group stage of the competition.
The team's poor form at the start of the season has left them 16th in the standings, 11 points adrift of league leaders Villarreal.
The lack of wins during the 2015-16 campaign has seen the manager's position questioned in the Spanish media, but club president Jose Castro has insisted that Emery is not under pressure.
Sevilla have been struggling defensively in the league, letting in 10 goals in their first six fixtures while keeping just one clean sheet so far – only Granada have failed to keep their opponents out more often.
This weekend's hosts have lacked potency going forward as well, having found the back of the net just five times so far, with two of the goals coming from former Stoke City man Steven N'Zonzi, who has missed time through suspension.
Recent form: DLDLLW
Recent form (all competitions): DWLLWL
Barcelona
The current champions bounced back from a shock defeat to Celta Vigo with victory over Las Palmas last time out in the league, moving them back up to second in the table, just a point behind Villarreal.
Like Sevilla, Barcelona have also been in Champions League action this week, coming from a goal down to beat German side Bayer Leverkusen, giving them their first win in the competition, having drawn with Roma in their first fixture in the tournament, where they are also the defending champions.
The Catalan side did suffer a big loss in their victory over Las Palmas though, with talismanic striker Lionel Messi picking up a knee injury that will keep him on the sidelines for up to eight weeks.
The Argentine is one of a number of regular first-team players to have picked up injuries in the early part of this season, with Rafinha likely to miss the rest of the season with a knee ligament injury, while Andres Iniesta limped out of the win over Leverkusen. Luis Enrique has described the injury situation as "a joke".
Barcelona have had one of the stronger attacks in the division so far this season, netting 11 times in their first six fixtures – only three sides have scored more. Luis Suarez and Neymar are the team's top scorers so far, having each netted three goals this season.
Defending has also been hit and miss for Barcelona so far this season, with the team keeping just two clean sheets in their opening six outings while letting in seven goals, although four of those did come in the defeat to Celta Vigo last month.
Recent form: WWWWLW
Recent form (all competitions): WDWLWW
Team News
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The visitors will be missing a number of their injured players, with Messi, Rafinha and Thomas Vermaelen all ruled out of the match.
The club are yet to issue an update on Iniesta, but with an apparent hamstring problem forcing him off on Tuesday, it seems unlikely that he will be ready to play on Saturday.
Goalkeeper Claudio Bravo has been sidelined with a calf injury at the start of this season, but returned to training earlier this week, so could feature in place of Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
The home side should have Vitolo and Fernando Llorente available again. The duo missed last weekend's match against Rayo, and were rested for the trip to Turin in the Champions League in a bid to get them 100% fit for the match against Barcelona.
Sevilla possible starting lineup:
Rico, Tremoulinas, Kolodzieczak, Andreolli, Coke, Krychowiak, Vitolo, N'Zonzi, Konoplyanka, Llorente, Immobile
Barcelona possible starting lineup:
Bravo, Pique, Alves, Mascherano, Mathieu, Rakitic, Busquets, Roberto, Suarez, Neymar, Ramirez
Head To Head
These two sides have already met in the European Super Cup this season, with Barcelona winning in extra time after the teams shared a 4-4 draw.
Sevilla have not beaten Barcelona since 2010, losing eight of the 12 meetings between the two sides since then, including last season's 5-1 hammering at Camp Nou.
Sevilla have won just 10 of the 46 previous meetings between the two sides, while Barcelona have beaten this weekend's opponents 26 times, with 10 fixtures finishing in draws.
We say: Sevilla 1-3 Barcelona
Barcelona may be without Messi, but with Neymar and Suarez both in good form so far this season, the champions should be able to cope without the Argentine international against a Sevilla side that have struggled to rediscover the form that helped them finish fifth and win the Europa League title.
Sian Cowper
