Sports Mole anticipates Wednesday’s La Liga clash between Barcelona and Espanyol, including team news and lineups.
Barcelona they will try to keep their subtle hopes of the glory of La Liga alive when they host the side of the basement Spanish Wednesday evening.
By contrast, Espanyol is 11 points adrift of security and his relegation to second tier will be confirmed if he loses against the Catalan giants during the week.
Match preview
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Barcelona showed exactly what they are capable of while sending Villarreal into the Champions League on Sunday night easily, but three points since La Liga returned to action means that the damage has already been done with four games left to play.
Indeed, Quique SetienThe men have lost points against Sevilla, Celta Vigo and Atletico Madrid in recent weeks, and Barca’s fierce rival Real Madrid is currently four points at the top of the standings as the season enters its final stretch.
Although, of course, mathematically it is possible for Barca to convey Madrid to the title, Zinedine ZidaneThe team has shown no sign of dropping out and now has relatively friendly matches to fight with to try and win their first La Liga title since 2017.
Barcelona seem destined to end up in second place for the 2019-2020 campaign and no doubt they will already have an eye on their last Champions League match of the last 16 with Napoli, but while there is still the possibility that Madrid will slip away , Setien will not accept any complacency on his side as the season draws to a close.
While the Catalan giants go to the penultimate home game of the season at La Liga, they will try to return to winning on familiar routes as Barca’s 2-2 draw with Atletico put an end to a winning run of eight league games for Setien men at the Camp Nou.
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Meanwhile, Espanyol’s 1-0 defeat to relegation rivals Leganes over the weekend has almost confirmed the relegation to the Segunda Division, remaining rooted at the bottom of the table with 24 points.
Francisco RufeteThe men started rebooting perfectly with the victory over Alaves – only their fifth in the whole campaign, but Espanyol has not been able to carry on this momentum and their 26-year spell in the top flight now looks set to to end .
Espanyol showed many promises last season as they qualified for the Europa League in seventh place, which was their highest milestone since the 2004-05 campaign, but this time it was a completely different story and Rufete’s team didn’t it needs miracles to preserve their Liga status.
Everything but a win here and Espanyol’s relegation from La Liga will be confirmed, with Los Periquitos currently 11 points behind Eibar in 17th place – who have one game in hand – with only four games of the season to play.
Rufete’s men are winless in the last seven away league games and have been given a mammoth task to overcome against Barcelona, although Espanyol managed to recover a point against the Catalan giants previously in the campaign for a 88th minute Wu Lei equalizer.
Form of the Barcelona Liga: WDWDDW
Spanish Liga form: DLLLLL
Team news
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Samuel Umtiti she is still breastfeeding a knee injury and will not be present for Barca midweek, which means Clemente Lenglet is Gerard Piqué once again form a partnership at the center.
Frenkie de Jong is Ousmane Dembele stay out because of injury while Junior Firpo is struggling with a hip problem and shouldn’t show up.
Setien may choose not to make any changes to the side that sent Villarreal easily Ivan Rakitic it is an option that the Barca manager should try to refresh the midfield.
As for Espanyol, Rufete will have to make do without forwarding Jonathan Calleri following his expulsion against Leganes.
The La Liga basement team must win this game to keep any hope of survival alive, and this could be reflected in the selection of Rufete’s team, but the Espanyol manager will have to find a balance between achieving the objectives and trying to keep watch the Boat.
Sebastien Corchia he has recovered from a meniscus problem but has now returned to the club he belongs to Tube it is also a doubt with a muscle complaint.
Possible starting line-up in Barcelona:
Ter Stegen; Semedo, Pique, Lenglet, Alba; Roberto, Busquets, Vidal; Messi; Suarez, Griezmann
Espanyol possible initial training:
Diego Lopez; J. Lopez, Espinosa, Cabrera, Vila; Roca, David Lopez; Melendo, Darder, Embarba, Tomas
Let’s say: Barcelona 4-0 Espanyol
Espanyol could hardly have been given a more difficult game to try and keep their weak hopes of survival at La Liga alive, and with the basement side of the division facing an inexorable Barcelona team today, we expect the giants Catalans register a simple victory and send Espanyol to the division of Segunda.
