Barcelona will aim to rise to the summit in La Liga when they welcome European outsiders Granada to Camp Nou for Thursday's top-flight battle.
La Blaugrana maintained their title charge with a 2-1 win over Villarreal last time out, while Granada's two-game winning streak came to an abrupt end against Sevilla.
Match preview
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A victory this week and the La Liga title is Barcelona's to lose. Ronald Koeman's side did not have it all their own way in the first half of the season, but they have been almost unplayable since the turn of the year.
Villarreal's Samuel Chukwueze gave Barca a scare when he netted the opening goal in last Sunday's encounter, but two swift replies from Antoine Griezmann put the game to bed before the break, and any hopes of a Yellow Submarine comeback were extinguished when Manu Trigueros saw red.
La Blaugrana's reward for winning their game in hand this week will be a spot at the top of the table, as Real Madrid are only ahead of third-placed Barca on goal difference while Atletico Madrid - who lost to Athletic Bilbao last time out - are now only two points clear of their adversaries.
The Clasico defeat on April 10 represents Barcelona's only La Liga defeat in 2021, as Koeman has overseen 15 wins from his side's last 17 league matches, and the Catalan giants will be searching for their fifth top-flight home win on the bounce when Granada pay a visit.
In fact, Real Madrid were also the last team to defeat Barcelona on home soil in the league on October 24, and with a whopping 76 goals to boast from 32 matches - unsurprisingly a league high - Granada's leaky defence is set for a taxing evening at the home of the title hopefuls.
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Granada had just managed to get their bid for a top seven-finish back on track before they travelled to title outsiders Sevilla, who dealt another blow to Diego Martinez's European aspirations with a 2-1 win on Sunday.
Roberto Soldado scored a last-gasp penalty to give Granada hope, but by that point Ivan Rakitic had already converted his own spot kick before Lucas Ocampos's 53rd-minute strike ended up proving decisive, but it is not all doom and gloom for Martinez's side just yet.
Indeed, Granada remain eighth in the table after claiming back-to-back wins against Eibar and Real Valladolid before losing to Sevilla, and with Real Betis and Villarreal struggling for consistency, Martinez's side could narrow the gap to the European spots to four points with a shock win at Camp Nou.
However, Granada's win at Valladolid represents their only league success on the road in their last 10 attempts, and they have conceded at least twice in nine of those games - potentially a bad omen as they endeavour to keep Messi and Griezmann at bay in midweek.
Granada were thrashed 4-0 by Barcelona when the sides met on January 9, while La Blaugrana boast a perfect record of 24 home wins from 24 games against the Nasrids in La Liga, and it would be a surprise not to see the current Barca crop make it 25 on Thursday.
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Team News
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Barcelona remain rather fortunate on the injury front, with long-term absentees Philippe Coutinho and Ansu Fati - as well as Martin Braithwaite - their only injury concerns at the minute.
Braithwaite's sprained ankle is expected to keep him out for at least a couple of weeks, but there was never any chance of the Danish striker displacing Griezmann or Lionel Messi - who boasts 12 goal contributions from six Camp Nou outings against Granada in La Liga - up top.
Koeman should largely stick with the same XI from their win over Villarreal, but Sergino Dest was taken off at half time against the Yellow Submarine and may be replaced by Sergi Roberto here.
Granada's Antonio Puertas was cautioned for the fifth time this season against Sevilla and will miss out here, while Angel Montoro is also suspended but would have struggled to force his way into the first XI anyway.
Darwin Machis should return as Puertas misses out, but Granada have been dealt further injury blows with Rui Silva, German Sanchez, Jesus Vallejo and Carlos Neva reportedly set to miss out, with the quartet joining Domingos Duarte and Luis Milla in the infirmary.
Martinez's hand is therefore largely forced in some areas, and Aaron Escandell should fill in as the last line of defence with Silva injured.
Barcelona possible starting lineup:
Ter Stegen; Mingueza, Lenglet, Pique; Busquets; Roberto, De Jong, Pedri, Alba; Messi, Griezmann
Granada possible starting lineup:
Escandell; Foulquier, Diaz, Perez, Quini; Gonalons, Herrera; Kenedy, Vico, Machis; Suarez
We say: Barcelona 2-0 Granada
Granada have been plagued by injuries all season, and more players have entered the visitors' treatment room at the worst possible time for the European hopefuls.
Barcelona, on the other hand, have their sights firmly set on top spot and should have no trouble in leapfrogging the two Madrid clubs in order to get there - this should be a routine win for Koeman's side.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Barcelona win with a probability of 77.97%. A draw had a probability of 14.1% and a win for Granada had a probability of 7.93%.
The most likely scoreline for a Barcelona win was 2-0 with a probability of 12.1%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 3-0 (10.59%) and 1-0 (9.22%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (6.67%), while for a Granada win it was 0-1 (2.54%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with a 2.4% likelihood.
