Deportivo Alaves vs Barcelona

Barcelona will be desperate to get their humiliating La Liga season back on the rails when they take on relegation-battling Deportivo Alaves at the Estadio Mendizorroza.

Coming into this matchday, Deportivo Alaves are winless in nine La Liga games (D4, L5), drawing a blank in the last two in a row as they now trail 17th-placed Mallorca by three points. With each of their last three home league matches ending level, Alaves face the prospect of drawing four consecutive La Liga fixtures at Mendizorroza for the first time in the club’s history. ‘El Glorioso’ are likely to try and keep things tight after netting a league-low 16 goals this La Liga campaign, 50% of which arrived in their 11 home matches. Despite Barcelona’s well-documented on and off-field struggle, a run of seven top-flight H2Hs without winning at home (D3, L4) douses any embers of optimism in the home camp regarding a potential upset.

Meanwhile, Barcelona seek redemption after bowing out of both Supercopa de Espana and Copa del Rey in space of a fortnight. Back to La Liga, where they sit just outside the top five, the ‘Blaugrana’ will look to build on a five-game unbeaten league streak (W2, D3) and bounce back from a dismal 1-1 draw at Granada last time out. Adding to their confidence, Xavi’s men have only lost one of their previous 21 La Liga away meetings with Basque sides (W14, D6). By contrast, they have picked up a mere two victories from their ten La Liga road trips this season (D6, L2), returning an indifferent 12-12 aggregate score from those travels. Just two of those ten fixtures have featured a goal inside the opening 15 minutes of play, highlighting the potential for a cagey beginning.