The pick of the fixtures in the sixth game week of the 2024-25 La Liga campaign will take place at Estadio de la Ceramica on Sunday night, with Villarreal welcoming Barcelona.
The visitors are currently top of the table, posting five wins from their opening five matches, while Villarreal have also had a strong start to the campaign, sitting fourth in the division on 11 points.
Match preview
![Villarreal manager Marcelino Garcia Toral during the pre-season friendly match at the City Ground, Nottingham on August 2, 2024 [on August 5, 2024]](https://sm.imgix.net/24/32/marcelino-garcia-toral.jpg?w=640&h=480&auto=compress,format&fit=clip "Villarreal manager Marcelino Garcia Toral during the pre-season friendly match at the City Ground, Nottingham on August 2, 2024 [on August 5, 2024]")
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Villarreal finished eighth in La Liga last season, which will have to go down as a disappointment considering that they had been fifth twice and seventh twice since claiming 14th in 2018-19.
However, the Yellow Submarine have been in impressive form in the early stages of this campaign, winning three and drawing two of their five matches to collect 11 points, which has left them in fourth spot in the table, level on points with second-placed Atletico Madrid and four from the leaders Barcelona.
Marcelino's side drew 2-2 with Atletico in their campaign opener before recording back-to-back wins over Sevilla and Celta Vigo to make it seven points from three matches.
Another point arrived away to Valencia on August 31, before they recorded a 2-1 victory over Mallorca last weekend, with Ayoze Perez netting the winner in the fourth minute of added time at the end of the 90.
The Yellow Submarine will be bidding to beat Barcelona on home soil for the first time since October 2007, but they did manage to record a 5-3 victory over the Catalan outfit when the two teams last locked horns at the end of January.
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Barcelona, meanwhile, will enter this match off the back of a 2-1 defeat to Monaco in their Champions League league-phase opener on Thursday night.
A 10th-minute red card for Eric Garcia made it a very tough evening for Hansi Flick's side, and although they managed to level the scores at 1-1 in the 28th minute courtesy of Lamine Yamal's first Champions League goal, Monaco scored a second in the 71st minute to claim all three points.
Barcelona's league form this season has been perfect, though, posting five straight wins over Valencia, Athletic Bilbao, Rayo Vallecano, Real Valladolid and Girona to sit at the top of the division on 15 points.
The Catalan outfit now have three straight league fixtures against Villarreal, Getafe and Osasuna before returning to Champions League action against Young Boys on October 1, and there will now be pressure on them to secure all three points from their second game in the league phase.
Barcelona recorded a 4-3 win over Villarreal in the corresponding clash last season, while as mentioned, they are unbeaten away to the Yellow Submarine since October 2007, demonstrating their dominance in this fixture.
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Team News
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Villarreal will be without the services of four players against Barcelona through injury, with Willy Kambwala, Gerard Moreno, Juan Foyth and Alfonso Pedraza on the sidelines.
Ayoze Perez has made an impressive start to his Villarreal career, scoring three times in five league appearances, and the Spain international will again lead the line on Sunday.
Summer arrival Thierno Barry is also set to keep his spot, and there is a chance that head coach Marcelino could name an unchanged side for this match, meaning that Yeremy Pino and Nicolas Pepe might have to again accept positions on the bench for the first whistle.
As for Barcelona, Fermin Lopez, Dani Olmo, Marc Bernal, Andreas Christensen, Ronald Araujo, Frenkie de Jong and Gavi will all miss the contest through injury.
Ferran Torres is also out due to his red card against Girona last weekend, but Eric Garcia is available and should start despite being sent off early against Monaco in the Champions League.
There had been some concern surrounding the fitness of Marc Casado, who picked up a knock in the final moments of the game against Monaco, but the midfielder is set to start against Villarreal.
Yamal has been in stunning form for Barcelona this season, scoring four goals and registering four assists in six appearances, and the 17-year-old will again be in the first XI this weekend.
Villarreal possible starting lineup:
Conde; Femenia, Albiol, Costa, S Cardona; Akhomach, Comesana, Parejo, Baena; Perez, Barry
Barcelona possible starting lineup:
Ter Stegen; Kounde, Cubarsi, I Martinez, Balde; Casado, E Garcia, Pedri; Yamal, Lewandowski, Raphinha
We say: Villarreal 1-1 Barcelona
Barcelona will be missing a whole host of important players for this match, and they will be coming up against a strong and talented Villarreal outfit. It would not be a surprise to see a narrow away win here, but we just have a feeling that Villarreal will be able to hold Flick's side to a low-scoring draw.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Matt Law
