By Kaustubh Pandey
Hansi Flick‘s aspect discover themselves 4 factors clear on the prime of the desk and have performed a sport extra however the hole may have been a lot much less snug, if Actual Madrid hadn’t stumbled in opposition to Athletic Membership on Wednesday.
On the identical time, the Catalan giants have themselves had a little bit of a stumble in latest weeks.
Barcelona have received just one sport out of their final 4 league video games. They did get better from final weekend’s residence defeat to Las Palmas by routing Mallorca 5-1 in midweek. However one factor is for certain; there are some chinks within the armour of the Blaugrana.
Struggling Betis search for hope
Manuel Pellegrini‘s Actual Betis had began off the season in a fantastic trend however they’ve light away during the last couple of months.
They haven’t received a single league sport since beating Atlético Madrid in direction of the tip of October and the final three have yielded solely a single level. That run has included a 4-2 loss to struggling Valencia.
Pellegrini’s Los Beticos will probably be hoping to reveal Barcelona’s latest issues, as they give the impression of being to carry themselves within the prime half of the desk. They could possibly be helped by their good residence report, having misplaced simply as soon as on the Benito Villamarín.
Goalscoring an issue for Betis
Goalscoring has been a problem for Pellegrini’s aspect in latest weeks, with Betis having underperformed on their Anticipated Objectives metric by about six.
They’ve created an xG of twenty-two.4 however have scored 16 occasions solely. On prime of that, they’ve missed the joint second-highest variety of large possibilities this season – behind solely Barcelona. The one distinction on this context is that the Catalans create quite a lot of possibilities and them lacking 40 large possibilities doesn’t matter as a lot to them.
Vitor Roque, who’s on mortgage from Barcelona, will certainly have one thing to say on this division on Saturday, having already revealed that he want to rating in opposition to his dad or mum membership.
Barcelona’s excessive danger make or break method
Flick’s insistence on enjoying a dangerous but efficient excessive defensive position has labored out effectively for Barcelona to this point – typically talking. It helped them register wins over Actual Madrid and Bayern Munich however on the identical time, there are some regarding underlying numbers.
They’ve conceded the ninth-highest xG in LaLiga and quite a lot of it’s due to how excessive they function.
Whether or not that method is sustainable or not stays to be seen in the long run however Pellegrini’s aspect will depend on these weaknesses tomorrow.
Damage issues for each Betis and Barcelona
Johnny Cardoso, Nobel Mendy, Héctor Bellerín, Marc Roca, William Carvalho and Isco are on the sidelines for Los Verdiblancos.
For Barcelona, Ansu Fati, Andreas Christensen, Marc Bernal, Marc-André ter Stegen, Ronald Araújo will stay out. Robert Lewandowski will come again into the aspect after being rested in mid-week.
Prediction
Barcelona ought to decide up a win on this one, with the Catalan giants having not misplaced on the Villamarín since 2008.
(Cowl picture from IMAGO)
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