Barcelona vs Deportivo Alavés Prediction, Betting Tips & Preview

Preview

Joel Amorim Sep 06, 2016 @ 01:14 am

Next Saturday, 10th September 2016, top tier newcomers’ Deportivo Alavés will visit Catalunya to measure forces with current champions Barcelona at Camp Nou for Round 3 of La Liga Santander.

After their easy home win over Real Betis in their first match of the season, Barcelona had to dig deep in order to claw the three points from their visit to San Mamés last time out. The home side, Athletic Bilbao, proved again to be tough bone to chew and forced the Catalan outfit to work very hard in order to grab a narrow 1-0 win. Croatian international Ivan Rakitic ended up to be the hero of the day scoring Barcelona’s lonely goal against the Basque team.

Team’s captain Leo Messi has picked up a groin injury and Barcelona have not yet confirmed the timetable for his return to action. Andrés Iniesta is also a doubt for next weekend’s match due to a knee injury. Portuguese international André Gomes has recent suffered a muscle injury and will most likely miss the match against Deportivo Alavés.

As for Deportivo Alavés, the Basque team, that have returned to the Spanish top tier this season, is enjoying a good season start with two draws from the first rounds of La Liga. After their last minute equalizer at Vicente Calderón, Mauricio Pellegrino’s men failed to get anything better than a goalless draw against Sporting Gijón at Mendizorroza last time out.

The Basque outfit have completed the signing of Serbian international winger Aleksandar Katai in the last day of the transfer window and the former FK Crvena zvezda footballer will surely be of good use to Pellegrini this season.

Moroccan defender Zou Feddal is still recovering from a sprained ankle and will miss his team’s visit to Catalunya. On the other hand, Serbian defender, Aleksandar Pantic is back in training after recovering from a muscle injury and will be available out there.

Barcelona

Stats: W-2 L-0 D-0

Recent Form - WW

Deportivo Alavés

Stats: W-0 L-0 D-2

Recent Form - DD

Possible Line-ups

Barcelona (4-3-3) - ter Stegen - Roberto - Pique - Mascherano - Alba - Busquets - Rakitic - Denis Suárez - Turan - Suárez - Neymar

Deportivo Alavés (4-3-3) – Pacheco - Kiko - Laguardia - Alexis - Hernández - Garcia - Llorente - Torres - Ibai Gómez - Edgar Méndez - Deyverson

Injury List / Suspended Players

Barcelona - Messi (doubt) - Iniesta (doubt) - André Gomes (doubt)

Deportivo Alavés - Zou Feddal (inj) - Sergio Llamas (doubt)

Head-to-head matches:

League Positions