Barcelona will be looking to make it four La Liga wins in a row when they continue their domestic campaign at home to struggling Huesca on Monday night.
Ronald Koeman's side are currently second in the table, six points behind leaders Atletico Madrid, while Huesca are rock bottom of Spain's top flight, having picked up just 20 points from 26 matches.
Match preview
© Reuters
Barca saw their Champions League journey for the 2020-21 campaign come to an end on Wednesday night as they drew 1-1 with Paris Saint-Germain in the second leg of their last-16 clash in Paris, with the result meaning that the La Liga club suffered a 5-2 aggregate defeat to Mauricio Pochettino's side.
The Catalan giants can still win two trophies as they will face Athletic Bilbao in the final of the Copa del Rey in the middle of April, while they are very much in the race for the La Liga title.
Unbeaten in the league since the start of December, Barca, who recorded a 2-0 victory at Osasuna last weekend, have won 10 of their last 11 in Spain's top flight to rise into second position in the table, six points behind leaders Atletico.
Koeman's team might have dropped down to third by the time that they take to the field for this match, though, with Real Madrid, who are two points behind in third, in action on Saturday afternoon, while Atletico will have the chance to move nine points clear of Barca when they face Getafe on Saturday night.
Barca have been impressive at home in the league this term, collecting 28 points from 13 matches, and they thumped Huesca 8-2 when the two teams last locked horns at Camp Nou in September 2018.
© Reuters
Huesca, meanwhile, will enter Monday's contest off the back of a 4-3 home defeat to Celta Vigo on March 7; the league's bottom club actually led 2-1 in the 16th minute of the contest but then fell 3-2 behind in the second half before David Ferreiro made it 3-3 in the 74th minute.
A point would have been welcome for the strugglers, but Fran Beltran scored a winner for Celta in the 77th minute to make it 12 league defeats for the season for Pacheta's side.
The reigning Segunda Division champions have only won three of their 26 league matches this season, but their position at the bottom is far from terminal as just four points separates them from Elche in 17th position.
Huesca have only won one of their 13 away league matches this season, but they have lost just six times, which is the same as sixth-placed Real Betis on their travels.
Pacheta's team will be the huge underdogs entering Monday's clash, but a record of four points from their last three matches should hand them confidence as they bid to escape the bottom three.
- W
- W
- D
- W
- W
- W
- D
- W
- W
- W
- W
- D
- W
- L
- L
- W
- D
- L
Team News
© Reuters
Barca's injury situation for this match is unchanged from their last clash with PSG, meaning that Gerard Pique, Ronald Araujo, Sergi Roberto, Philippe Coutinho and Ansu Fati will all miss out once again.
It seems likely that Koeman will again select a back three, with Samuel Umtiti, who started against Osasuna last weekend, potentially returning to the starting XI, allowing Frenkie de Jong to move into midfield.
Sergio Busquets could be given a rest in the middle of the park, but there are not expected to be any changes further forward, with Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembele joining Lionel Messi once again.
As for Huesca, Sandro Ramirez, Gaston Silva, Pedro Mosquera and Antonio Valera will again be unavailable for selection this weekend.
Head coach Pacheta has plenty of options for change, particularly in the forward positions, with Javi Ontiveros and Shinji Okazaki both pushing for spots in the side.
The visitors could ultimately be unchanged from the side that started against Celta, though, with Rafa Mir, who has recently been linked with Real Madrid, featuring alongside Ferreiro.
Barcelona possible starting lineup:
Ter Stegen; Mingueza, Lenglet, Umtiti; Dest, Pedri, De Jong, Alba; Griezmann, Messi, Dembele
Huesca possible starting lineup:
Alvaro; Pulido, Siovas, Insua; Maffeo, Seoane, Rico, Galan; Escriche; Mir, Ferreiro
We say: Barcelona 2-0 Huesca
Huesca have only lost 12 of their 26 league matches this season, which is not a disastrous record considering their position in the table. The visitors could make it an uncomfortable evening for Barca, but we fully expect Koeman's side to continue their impressive run of form in La Liga with another victory.
Top tip
Matt Law
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 76.62%. A draw had a probability of 14.4% and a win for Huesca had a probability of 8.96%.
The most likely scoreline for a Barcelona win was 2-0 with a probability of 11%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 3-0 (9.76%) and 2-1 (8.92%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (6.7%), while for a Huesca win it was 1-2 (2.72%). The actual scoreline of 4-1 was predicted with a 5.3% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Barcelona would win this match.
