Preview
Villarreal will host Barcelona at the Estadio de la Ceramica on Sunday as they look to add to their charge to secure a Europa League place for next season. The Yellow Submarines are well within their right to fight for a place among the top six after dipping slightly following their remarkable start to the season. The Europa League semi-final contigents are placed seventh with 49 points from 32 outings and are just a point adrift of sixth and fifth-placed Real Betis and Real Sociedad.
They will welcome Barcelona on the back of a disappointing 2-1 defeat to Deportivo Alaves. However, they should be able to draw inspiration from the fact that they have won eight of their last 10 matches in all competitions. But there still remain a cause for concern as Unai Emery's men have sub-par at home this season. Of the 15 matches they have played at the Ceramica, they have managed just six wins while drawing six games as well.
With their Europa League semi-final clash with Arsenal coming up, they will hope to get the better of Barclona who are looking to rival the likes of Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid for the title this season. The newly-crowned Copa Del Rey winners have barely put a foot wrong in recent weeks and are pretty much among the favorites to secure the league title.
Bar the Clasico defeat to Real Madrid, the Catalans have recorded an 11-game unbeaten run, winning nine and drawing the remaining two games across all competitions. Ronald Koeman's charges come into the clash on the back of an emphatic 5-2 win over Getafe in mid-week.
Having defeat Villarreal 4-0 in the reverse encounter, they will be poised to close in on the five-point gap established by table-toppers Atletico Madrid with back-to-back wins on Sunday afternoon.
Team news
Vicente Iborra and Pervis Estupinan will not feature for Villarreal as a result of injuries. On the contrary, Ansu Fati and Philippe Coutinho are expected to miss the fixture for Barcelona. Martin Braithwaite, Neto and Ousmane Dembele gave the visitors a boost by participating in the final training session ahead of the encounter after respective spells on the sidelines.
Predicted starting XI
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Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Araujo, Piqué, Lenglet; Dest, De Jong, Pedri, Alba; Messi, Dembélé, Griezmann
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Villarreal: Asenjo; Foyth, Albiol, Torres, Pedraza; Parejo, Capoue, Trigueros; Chukwueze, Alcácer, Gerard.
Broadcast information
Match details, result and original broadcast info
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Live TV coverage and streaming in United States
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