Barcelona travel to Basque Country for the late kick-off on Sunday.
Form
After a slow start to the calendar year, Barcelona are starting to build some momentum. Three wins in a row in all competitions, which includes tough games against Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao. The mental boost from breaking the ‘curse of Anoeta’, due to beating Real Sociedad, will be significant. The fact that they are playing at home does little to help Eibar because Barça have picked up twenty points from nine games away from home which is the best in the league currently. Eibar have had a decent start to the year with Atletico Madrid being the only team to beat them in any competition. However, they have done this twice in a short spell due to playing each other in the cup as well as the league. Two wins from the five games they have played so far this year isn’t bad for a club of Eibar’s stature.
Squads
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For this match, Javier Mascherano is suspended due to picking up his fifth yellow card of the season against UD Las Palmas. Rafinha and Andrés Iniesta are both out due to injury. However, they shouldn’t be out too long because neither injury is serious. Aside from that, Luis Enrique has a strong squad to use. Eibar are heavily depleted by injuries going in to this match. They are without: Iván Ramis, Anaitz Arbilla, David Juncà, Kike and Asier Riesgo for this match. Nano could also be out if he doesn’t pass a late fitness test, and even if he is fit in time, they will only have seventeen senior players available.
History
History between the two is limited due to Eibar’s remarkable rise through the ranks in the past few years. In the four meetings between the two, Barcelona have won every game. They have won each one of those games by a minimum margin of two goals, which shows their dominance in the fixture. Luis Suárez has scored four against these opponents and Lionel Messi has scored five, so both will be looking to get on the scoresheet again.
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Playing Style
Eibar play a nice attacking style of football considering the resources at their disposal. However, against Barça they are likely to play on the counter-attack. The loss of their main goal-threat Borja Bastón in the summer, who was on loan from Atlético Madrid last season, doesn’t seem to have hindered them too much. The main threat this season is Pedro León who has scored six goals in the league this season.
Barcelona should have more than enough to win this game comfortably even without Iniesta. Sergio Busquets should be able to assert his control on the match, and the front three could easily run riot against a team that’s already conceded twenty-four goals in the league.
Prediction: SD Eibar 0-3 FC Barcelona
Predicted Lineup
Ivan Rakitić instead of Denis Suárez is a possibility.