Barcelona fans and players are still hoping that Real Madrid is going to slip somewhere along the way. For now, the Blaugrana is doing their part of the job which means that they are winning and keeping on the tempo with Los Blancos, who still have one game less comparing to them. This weekend Barcelona is going to face one of the toughest obstacles in this season. Yellow Submarine is coming, and they are in good shape as they haven't won just once in the last 6 games. Also, currently they are one of the best defensive teams in the league.
Barcelona News And Form
In the last three games in La Liga, Barcelona scored 13 goals, and their performances are quite convincing at the moment. What is interesting, is the fact that since Neymar is suspended, Barcelona is much more efficient and lethal.
This heat up the rumors that the Brazilian international is going to leave his cousins club at the end of the season.
In the previous 5 games at home Barcelona put down only victories, and the least number of goals scored by them in those games is 3. During that run, Barcelona netted 22 goals. In 17 games so far this season at Camp Nou, Barca scored 56 goals the highest number in the entire league.
Villarreal News And Form
Villarreal is in a tough position because they are currently at the 5th place with just one point more than Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad and their European appearance in the next season is heavily endangered.
In the last three games, they have to collect at least 4 points in order to secure the international competition. Recently the Yellow Submarine showed very good performances, and in the last 6 games, they have 5 victories and only one defeat. The interesting thing is that in the last 5 games on the road, 4 of them finished with just one goal in the whole match. It is a clear sign that Fran Escriba's team is playing excellent defense away from home.
Head-To-Head
In the previous 17 games between these two clubs, Barcelona didn't lose, and that is one of the longest streaks between two clubs in La Liga. Also, in the last 9 meetings, Villarreal conceded at least one goal. The spectators got used seeing very exciting games considering goals because 5 out of the last 6 finished with over 2.5.
Top 3
Barcelona
-Lionel Messi 31 appearances 33 goals 12 assists
-Luis Suárez 32 appearances 26 goals 14 assists
-Neymar 27 appearances 9 goals 13 assists
Villarreal
-Roberto Soriano 31 appearances 10 goals 7 assists
-Cédric Bakambu 23 appearances 9 goals 2 assists
-Nicola Sansone 29 appearances 7 goals 4 assists
Injured And Suspended Players
Barcelona
-Aleix Vidal Out
-Rafinha Out
-Jeremy Mathieu Doubtful
Villarreal
-Sergio Asenjo Out
-Denis Cheryshev Out
-Víctor Ruiz Out
-Álvaro González Doubtful
-Bruno Soriano Doubtful
Prediction
When we make a deep analysis of this match, Barcelona is an absolute favorite but the odds on that that are low, and we are going to find something more suitable for our readers.
Despite the fact that Villarreal is excellent on the road considering their defense we think that this game is going to have a lot of goals. Over 3.5 in this match is a good play, but for you who want to try something more challenging, we propose Barcelona over 1.5 goals in the first halftime.
Goals: Over 3.5
Goals: Barcelona Over 1.5 HT
