Barcelona vs Levante

Underperforming Barcelona will play host to out-of-sorts Levante at Camp Nou in a must-win La Liga fixture.

After guiding his side to a brace of underwhelming La Liga draws with sub-par Granada and Cadiz, Barcelona boss Ronald Koeman has come under heavy scrutiny. Despite going unbeaten in their inaugural five league matches this season (W2, D3), the Catalans’ hopes of reclaiming domestic supremacy are already hanging in the balance. Sitting eight points adrift of top-placed Real Madrid, Barca can ill-afford another slip-up despite having two games in hand on ‘Los Merengues.’ After scoring just once across their last two La Liga outings, the ‘Blaugrana’ will be confident of finding their feet up top, as they take on a side they’ve netted against in all 30 overall top-flight H2Hs. Additionally, Barcelona boast a 100% win-ratio against Levante in La Liga at Camp Nou (15/15), winning seven of the last eight without conceding.

Meanwhile, Levante head into proceedings hovering a single point clear of the relegation zone, having failed to win any of their first six La Liga fixtures this season (D4, L2). Low scoring has been a common theme across Levante’s early league exchanges this season, with five of their six top-flight matches so far featuring under 2.5 total goals. Taking the 2020/21 season into account, ‘Les Granotes’ are winless in their last 14 La Liga games on the trot (D7, L7) and are one away from equalling the club’s worst-ever such run in the competition. Even though all three of Levante’s league outings away from home have contained under 2.5 total goals, each saw the opening goal continually arrived before half-time. But it’s worth noting that Paco Lopez’s men have netted one goal or less in nine of their last ten league trips.