Barcelona vs Eibar matchday preview, line-ups, score predictions, head-to-head record

Barca to Ease Past Eibar Once Again

Barcelona has won 11 of their previous 12 meetings with Eibar and we expect the champions to comfortably enhance that trend at Camp Nou this week.

Barca hasn’t been at their scintillating best this season as four league defeats from 14 starts implies, although the champions have been playing their way into form over the past few weeks.

Ten points from their last four league matches have seen Ronald Koeman’s charges move up to fifth, and the Catalan giants were impressive when dismantling Valladolid 0-3 at Jose Zorrilla last week.

Barca has amassed 13 points from their last five La Liga games at Camp Nou and they should overpower an Eibar side who are winless in four and aiming to avoid a third straight league defeat this Tuesday.

Another loss looks inevitable though for Los Armeros, who have been beaten by three goals or more in six of their last nine clashes against the hosts. With Barca banging in 20 goals across their eight home league starts this term, backing them to cover a two-goal handicap looks the way to go at a shade over 2/1 at time of press.

Team news

Barcelona

Jordi Alba is suspended while Leo Messi will miss Barcelona's match with a slight ankle problem.

Ansu Fati, Sergi Roberto and Gerard Pique are out with injuries.

Eibar

Eibar will miss Yoshinori Muto, Sergi Enrich, Roberto Correa, Paulo Oliveira, Sergio Cubero and Cote through injury, while Damian Kadzior is unavailable through illness. (h/t SportsMole)

Key stats

Barcelona has won four of the last five matches against Eibar, with the fifth one ending in a 2-2 draw.

During these matches, the Catalans scored 15 goals and conceded only two.

In their last matches across all competitions, Barca has recorded three wins, one draw and one loss while Eibar has got one win, two draws and two losses.

Probable line-ups

Barca XI: Ter Stegen; Dest, Mingueza, Araujo, Lenglet, Firpo; De Jong, Pjanic, Pedri; Griezmann, Braithwaite.

Eibar XI: Dmitrovic; Pozo, Burgos, Bigas, Arbilla; Leon, Edu, Diop, Gil; Kike, Quique. (h/t SportsMole)

Managers' quotes

Ronald Koeman (Barcelona): "They’re a very competitive side who look to press their opponents hard. We need to play the level of football we played in our last game [a 3-0 win at Real Valladolid]. We’ll need to be on our game; otherwise, it’ll be a tough evening for us."

Jose Luis Mendilibar (Eibar): "Barca has one of the best teams in La Liga. [Messi's absence] has to be noticed because, in the end, Messi is the best player in the world, but the one who is going to replace him is going to be another high-quality player."

Predictions

SportsMole's Matt Law: Barcelona 2-0 Eibar

"Eibar lost 5-0 in the corresponding game last season, and we are finding it difficult to back anything other than a routine home victory on Tuesday night. Barca will be far from at full strength but should still have more than enough quality to put another three points on the board here."

WhoScored's Simon Harrison: Barcelona 3-1 Eibar

"Barcelona signed off for Christmas with four games without defeat. Ronald Koeman's side have climbed up La Liga's table recently but still remain off the title pace. Eibar are winless in their last four league games, suffering back-to-back defeats to Alaves and Real Madrid most recently."