La Liga preview and odds: Barcelona vs Valencia

Published on: 17/04/2016

La Liga preview and odds: Barcelona vs Valencia

April 17, 2016 20:30pm - Camp Nou

La Liga

Barcelona will be looking to bounce back from a disappointing couple of weeks when they welcome 14th-ranked Valencia to the Camp Nou on Sunday night.

Barca rocked by Euro exit

After getting dumped out of the Champions League by rivals Atletico Madrid, Barcelona will now set about defending their slender lead in the title race.

The Catalan side are just a point ahead of Real Madrid, having played one game less, and just three points ahead of Atletico. If they lose at home to Valencia, they could finish the weekend level on points with the team that knocked them out of Europe.

In their last league game, Luis Enrique`s were beaten 1-0 away from home by bogey side Real Sociedad. Prior to that, they fell 2-1 at home to Real Madrid in El Clasico.

Valencia looking to compound Barca misery

In the last round of matches, Valencia secured their first win under new boss Paco Ayerstaran with an impressive 2-1 victory at home to Sevilla. They will be hoping to build on that result by taking advantage of a vulnerable Barcelona side.

A win would also move the 14th-ranked team a step closer to safety in the league table. Los Che currently have an eight-point cushion over the first relegation spot with six games left to play. When the teams met at La Mestalla earlier in the season, the spoils were shared in a 1-1 draw.

Team news

The home side will be without the injured group of Thomas Vermaelen, Rafinha, Aleix Vidal, Jeremy Mathieu and Sandro Ramirez, while Arda Turan is suspended.

Meanwhile, Danilo Barbosa, Jose Gaya, Joao Cancelo, Denis Cheryshev and Zakaria Bakkali are all injured for the visitors, while Sofiane Feghouli has been excluded for disciplinary issues.

Recent form (League)

Barcelona: LLDWW

Valencia: WLLLL

Betting odds and tips

Only Real Madrid have taken all three points from the Camp Nou in the league this season. However, given their current predicament, the draw looks like a good value bet.

You can back the draw at 8/1 with Bet365.

By Neil Morris

Published on: 17/04/2016

Any odds displayed within this preview were correct at the time of publishing (17/04/2016 15:52:43) but are subject to change.