Barcelona and Sevilla will both be looking to make it three wins out of three in the 2020-21 La Liga campaign when the two powerhouses lock horns at Camp Nou on Sunday evening.
La Blaugrana have triumphed over Villarreal and Celta Vigo so far, while Sevilla have taken maximum points from clashes with Cadiz and Levante.
Match preview
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Barcelona are out for blood this season. The Blaugrana are determined to dethrone Real Madrid as La Liga champions, and the early signs are certainly promising for the Catalan giants under the tutelage of Ronald Koeman.
Despite going into the new La Liga campaign following a summer of controversy surrounding the future of talisman Lionel Messi, Barcelona have weathered that storm and are now simply focused on their performances on the pitch - as evidenced by two dominant wins in the opening weeks of the new season.
Barca followed up their 4-0 thrashing of Villarreal with a comfortable 3-0 victory against Celta Vigo in midweek, and Koeman's men are one of only two sides in the Spanish top flight yet to concede a goal - the other being early leaders Getafe.
Teenage protege Ansu Fati has made a particularly bright start to the campaign for Barcelona - the 17-year-old followed up his brace against Villarreal with the opener against Celta - as Sergi Roberto and an own goal from Lucas Olaza completed the scoring on the night.
Barca currently have a game in hand over Real Madrid, and the champions have two wins and a draw to show from their opening three matches, so Koeman's men have the chance to put some early pressure on their great rivals with another victory against Sevilla.
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That will certainly be easier said than done, though, as the Europa League winners can also boast six points from two matches in the 2020-21 campaign.
Sevilla have been quick to put their agonising Super Cup defeat to Bayern Munich behind them as they swept aside newly-promoted Cadiz before taking the spoils against Levante a few days later.
However, Julen Lopetegui's men needed to a last-gasp winner from substitute Youssef En-Nesyri to get over the line on Wednesday night, but slender wins carry as much significance as any victory does for a side with ambitions of a top-three finish this season.
Victories have been extremely hard to come by for Sevilla against Barcelona in recent times, though, as La Blaugrana have not lost a top-flight game to their opponents since the 2015-16 campaign - winning 13 of the last 16 meetings between the two La Liga giants in all competitions.
Barcelona La Liga form: WW
Sevilla La Liga form: WW
Sevilla form (all competitions): LWW
Team News
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Barcelona centre-back Clement Lenglet was sent off in the win over Celta and will not be involved here, with Ronald Araujo set to deputise alongside Gerard Pique.
Fellow defender Samuel Umtiti is still recovering from a knee problem and is not expected to make his return to action just yet, while Junior Firpo - who has been linked with a move away - is a doubt after missing out in midweek.
The Catalan giants have recently welcome 19-year-old right-back Sergino Dest to the club from Ajax, but Roberto is set to keep his place in the team for the time being.
As for the visitors, En-Nesyri - the hero of the hour against Levante - will be hoping that he has done enough to earn a start over Luuk de Jong up top.
Minimal changes are expected from the side from the midweek victory, but Marcos Acuna will be pushing for inclusion from the off ahead of Sergio Escudero.
Barcelona possible starting lineup:
Neto; Roberto, Araujo, Pique, Alba; De Jong, Busquets; Griezmann, Coutinho, Fati; Messi
Sevilla possible starting lineup:
Bono; Navas, Kounde, Carlos, Acuna; Jordan, Fernando, Rakitic; Ocampos, En-Nesyri, Munir
We say: Barcelona 2-1 Sevilla
Barcelona have the chance to leapfrog Real Madrid with a victory here, and while that is not something for the Blaugrana faithful to get over-excited about after three games, it sends out a strong message nonetheless. Sevilla are certainly not to be underestimated and this will be an entertaining affair, but Barca should do enough to get over the line.
Top betting tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting that both teams will score (BTTS - yes) in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.BTTS Yes:dataData Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Barcelona win with a probability of 56%. A draw had a probability of 22% and a win for Sevilla had a probability of 21.98%.
The most likely scoreline for a Barcelona win was 2-1 with a probability of 9.87%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (9.01%) and 2-0 (8.71%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.2%), while for a Sevilla win it was 1-2 (5.78%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with a 10.2% likelihood.
