Almeria vs Barcelona

La Liga pacesetters Barcelona make a seemingly routine trip to the Estadio de los Juegos Mediterráneos to take on relegation-threatened Almeria.

Despite losing three consecutive league matches by an aggregate score of 11-4 in the lead-up to this fixture, Almeria start this round outside the bottom three, albeit they’re level on points with 18th-placed Cadiz. Last weekend’s embarrassing 6-2 defeat at Girona saw Almeria become the second side to concede at least 40 goals in La Liga this season after rock-bottom Elche. In addition to lamenting the league’s second-worst defensive record, Rubi’s men have faltered at home in 2023, picking up just four points from as many home outings since the turn of the calendar year (W1, D1, L2). It’s also worth noting that they’ve failed to keep a clean sheet in all four matches. That’s an ominous sign as they meet a side they’ve conceded an average of 3.00 goals per game against across 13 La Liga H2Hs (D2, L11).

On the other hand, Barcelona slumped to a 2-1 defeat at Manchester United in the return leg of their Europa League knockout playoff tie, resulting in an underwhelming European elimination. With the distraction of European football for the remainder of the season, Barcelona can focus on landing the first La Liga title since 2018/19 as they enter this round carrying an eight-point lead on second-placed Real Madrid. Since a 1-1 home draw against Espanyol at the turn of 2023, Xavi Hernandez’s men have won seven straight league matches and could make it eight victories in a row in the top-flight for the first time in over four years. That looks inevitable, with the ‘Blaugrana’ going unbeaten on their last ten La Liga visits to Andalusia (W7, D3).