Barcelona will be hoping to get their first league win of the calendar year.
Form
This calendar year has already seen every possible result for Barcelona. Last match, against Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey, was the first win of 2017, and what a crucial result it was. The only league game that has been played so far is the 1-1 draw with Villarreal, which was affected by poor refereeing decisions. Therefore, Barcelona’s form could be best described as mixed. Las Palmas have had a much better start to the year with two wins out of three matches. One of those wins was a thriller against Atlético Madrid which ended 3-2. However, the aggregate score was 4-3 to Atlético, so it wasn’t enough. The other win came against Sporting Gijón in the league, and ended 1-0.
Squads
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The Catalans are likely to be without Marc Cardona and Jérémy Mathieu for the match due to injuries. Neither of these were likely to start due to them both being down the pecking order. Los Amarillos are likely to be without Sergio Araujo and Pedro Bigas. These players will both be missed due to their importance in the team. Prior to their injuries, they were both playing regularly with Araujo scoring twice in the league so far. Javi Castellano is also likely to be out due to illness, but he was unlikely to play anyway.
Next: 3 Things We Learned from the Bilbao match
History
History between the two is limited with only six meeting in the past twenty years. Barcelona have the advantage with four wins and two draws in those matches. Both matches last season were 2-1 wins for Barça. The goals were shared between Luis Suarez and Neymar with the Uruguayan getting three of those. Lionel Messi will be hoping to get on the scoresheet this time round because Las Palmas are one of the few teams he hasn’t scored against.
Related Story: Thoughts on Barcelona's last league match
Playing Style
The Canary Islanders play exciting football, and are currently one of the best teams to watch in La Liga especially considering the resources at their disposal. They excel at build up play due to the creative players that they have with Kevin-Prince Boateng being the star. Similarities can be made between the two teams due to their emphasis on keeping possession and the composure of the players on the ball. However, the Catalans have more experience at this, and are able to alter their play to rely on being more direct or playing on the counter-attack. This means the game is going to be a battle of similar styles which usually favours Barcelona when this happens.
Barcelona should have enough to pull through to get their first league win of the season due to the lack of injuries, as well as the amount of creative players, in the team. The priority will be killing this game off as quickly as possible in order to rest players.
Prediction: FC Barcelona 3-0 Las Palmas
Predicted Lineup
Luis Enrique could elect to do more squad rotation than on show here.