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FC Barcelona travel to UD Las Palmas in La Liga Matchday 37

By Benjamin Barkworth

BARCELONA, SPAIN - JANUARY 14: FC Barcelona players pose for a team picture prior to the kick-off during the La Liga match between FC Barcelona and UD Las Palmas at Camp Nou stadium on January 14, 2017 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)
BARCELONA, SPAIN - JANUARY 14: FC Barcelona players pose for a team picture prior to the kick-off during the La Liga match between FC Barcelona and UD Las Palmas at Camp Nou stadium on January 14, 2017 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images) /
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Barcelona have a tough trip to Las Palmas as they try to keep up the pressure on Los Blancos.

Form

The Catalans are in great from going in to this match with five straight wins in the league, and look to be ending the season well. In contrast to this, Las Palmas have picked up one point in the last five games. The announcement by the manager, Quique Setién, that he is leaving at the end of the season has coincided with a poor run of form, which could be linked.

Squads

More from Analysis

Luis Enrique has a few issues to deal with for this match. Sergi Roberto is suspended due to picking up his fifth yellow card in the league against Villarreal. Gerard Piqué is unavailable after picking up an illness, and Lucas Digne is out due to an injury he picked up against El Submarino Amarillo. These three join long-term absentees Rafinha, Jérémy Mathieu and Aleix Vidal. Las Palmas have a few injuries of their own to deal with. Kevin-Prince Boateng is out with a foot injury, which is a major blow for them. Dani Castellano and Vicente Gómez are both out injured as well, and Marko Livaja is unavailable due to suspension.

Next: Transfer Rumour Update

History

History favours Barça because they haven’t lost against these opponents in the seven times that they have played each other in the league. The Catalans have won five of those matches, and have outscored Los Amarillos fifteen to four in the seven games.

Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images.
Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images. /

Playing Style

Las Palmas haven’t been playing well recently, but they are a hard proposition when playing at home. The sheer distance that teams have to travel to play them could be a factor in this especially when playing the teams at the lower end of the table.

They have shown that they aren’t willing to compromise on their open attacking style when playing the big teams with the 3-3 draw against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu being a great example of this. They like to play a possession style of play which has obvious similarities to Barcelona. This suits the Blaugrana because of how experienced they are at playing this way.

The main issue for Barça is the defence because of how many players are out due to various reasons. They lack a right-back for this match, so they are likely to play in a 3-4-3 diamond formation in order to get around this. Enrique could risk playing Marlon Santos in defence, even though he has little experience, because Jordi Alba would probably have to play in the centre of defence otherwise. Santos is talented, but this is a key game, so it depends on how much Enrique is willing to risk.

In other areas, the key players are fit, so the Catalans should have more than enough offensively to pull this team apart even considering the defensive issues. Interestingly, Estadio Gran Canaria is the only Spanish stadium which Lionel Messi has previously played in and not scored, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him score.

Prediction: UD Las Palmas 1-3 FC Barcelona

Predicted Lineup

André Gomes instead of Ivan Rakitić is a possibility.