Preview: Barcelona with a chance to put pressure on their rivals
Saturday's afternoon meeting between Barcelona and Valencia will give the Catalans a chance to pull three points ahead of Atletico Madrid. The bad piece of news for Los Che is that they have lost their last six visits to Camp Nou.
With only two goals in six matches when visiting the Catalans, Juan Antonio Pizzi's men are going to have to put together a very good performance.
Barcelona come into the match on great form, having won three straight, after their one goal draw away to Levante. Tata Martino's men followed that draw up with a 4-1 victory over that same Levante in the Copa del Rey, and finished them off mid-week at Camp Nou with a 5-1 drubbing.
In their last La Liga fixture, Barcelona came away with a 3-0 victory at home against Malaga. Pique, Pedro and Alexis Sanchez got the goals for the hosts, and they will be hopeful they can get on the scoresheet again on Saturday.
Xavi and Sergio Busquets will return to the squad, after missing out on Wednesday's match. Dani Alves will also make his way back into the team, but his Brazilian teammate Neymar is still out with an ankle injury.
As for absences, the hosts will be without Carles Puyol, Martin Montoya, Ibrahim Afellay, Isaac Cuenca, Jonathan Dos Santos and Oier Olazabal.
The visitors will not have as many injury problems, but they are missing some players.
Helder Postiga, Andres Guardado and Dorlan Pabon have all departed the club in the final days of the January transfer window. They did bring in Eduardo Vargas on loan from Napoli, but he may not be enough to help Valencia grab points at Camp Nou.
Sergio Canales will miss out due to injury, and João Pereira will be out serving a suspension.
Where to watch this match - live stream, start time, TV channels, live scores
Watch Barcelona vs Valencia live on Saturday, February 1, 2014:
In Canada at 10:00 ET on: beIN Sports Play Canada
In the USA at 10:00 ET on: beIN Sports USA, beIN Sports en Español, beIN Sports Play
For viewers who are outside of these countries, please visit the Barcelona vs Valencia match page for full TV listings.
