Almeria vs Barcelona

Power Horse Stadium is the venue as La Liga basement boys Almeria take on last season’s champions Barcelona.

Almeria conceded twice inside the opening 30 minutes in a 3-2 defeat to Real Betis at the weekend, making it three losses across their last four La Liga outings (W1). With only two league wins to their name this whole season (D11, L22), the hosts will bid farewell to La Liga in a fortnight, but first, they’ll be out to avoid rewriting history. Their 17-point tally is the worst for any La Liga side in the 21st century, plus they’ve yet to win at home this term (D8, L9). But three consecutive home league defeats – the last two of which saw them pick up a red – paint a bleak picture ahead of Barcelona’s visit. If there’s an upside, Almeria squeezed past Barca 1-0 in this corresponding fixture in 2022/23.

On the other hand, Barcelona’s patchy form in the build-up to this trip has seen them alternate between winning and losing across their last four competitive matches (W2, L2). Xavi Hernandez’s side will hope to buck that trend against Almeria, considering they claimed a 2-0 triumph against Real Sociedad earlier this week. However, Los Blaugranas have lost their last two La Liga away matches despite scoring precisely twice on each occasion after going unbeaten on their first 15 league travels this season (W9, D6). On a more positive note, the abovementioned loss last season remains Barcelona’s only defeat across 17 H2H encounters against Almeria (W14, D2), reducing the likelihood of suffering a third successive away league failure for the first time since December 2002.