Las Palmas vs Barcelona

Barcelona’s La Liga title quest takes them to Estadio de Gran Canaria to take on relegation-battling Las Palmas in a high-stakes fixture.

A disheartening 3-1 defeat at Mallorca last weekend landed Las Palmas in relegation trouble, marking their sixth La Liga loss in seven games (D1). As a result, they commenced this round narrowly outside the bottom three, courtesy of goal difference alone, highlighting the significance of this clash. Despite scoring in their last six league outings, Las Palmas’ leaky backline let manager Diego Martinez down, conceding 2+ goals on five occasions. Meeting Barcelona in such circumstances hardly looks promising, but ‘Los Amarillos’ can draw confidence from beating Catalan opposition in three of their last four league H2Hs, including a stunning 2-1 victory in November’s reverse fixture. Therefore, Las Palmas could complete their first-ever top-flight double over Barcelona.

Seeking revenge for November’s heartbreak, ‘Los Blaugranas’ head into proceedings amid a four-game winning run in La Liga, bookended by a hard-fought 1-0 home win against Rayo Vallecano earlier this week. Barcelona’s form resurgence has fired them to the top of La Liga’s table, although they’re only a point clear of Atletico and Real Madrid. Playing outside Catalonia shouldn’t derail Barcelona’s pursuit of another vital three points, considering they’ve not lost any of their last 11 away games in all competitions (W8, D3), including two wins by 4+ goals ‘to one’ in five La Liga fixtures (D3).