Barcelona vs Villarreal

Camp Nou is the venue as Barcelona and Villarreal go head-to-head in a handsomely-looking La Liga fixture.

With a runner-up finish already wrapped up, Barcelona will look to complete a topsy-turvy season in style as they seek an eighth home triumph in ten league matches (L2). There’s plenty of reason for optimism, as the ‘Blaugrana’ have outscored Villarreal in 11 consecutive La Liga meetings at Camp Nou, keeping them at bay twice in their last three such match-ups. But following an underwhelming ‘nil-nil’ draw at Getafe in the penultimate round, Barcelona could fail to get on the scoresheet in back-to-back La Liga games for the first time since 2008. Despite netting 2+ goals in their last two home league outings, Xavi’s side will feel anxious after drawing a blank in their two previous league fixtures at Camp Nou.

On the other hand, Villarreal’s dream of securing European football for next season is up in the air as they take the field holding a narrow one-point lead on eighth-placed Athletic Bilbao. A 2-1 home defeat to Real Sociedad last time out made it one win in four La Liga games for Villarreal (W1, D1, L2), significantly derailing their chances of reaching next season’s Europa Conference League. A lack of consistency has seen ‘El Submarino Amarillo’ alternate between victories (2) and defeats (2) across their last four La Liga away matches, with three of those four results (win/loss) coming by 2+ goals ‘to one.’ Unai Emery’s men have netted a staggering 98 goals in all competitions this season and could hit a 100-goal landmark for the second campaign running for ther first time since making their La Liga debut in 1998/99.