La Liga leaders Barcelona and eighth-placed Espanyol square off at Camp Nou in the latest edition of Derbi Barceloni that should be quite an entertaining affair.

The Catalans have been pretty impressive under Tata Martino this term, winning the Spanish Super Cup and coming to the verge of securing their place in the Champions League knockout stages.

Meanwhile, the league campaign has also been going according to plan, and even though Atletico Madrid could close the gap behind them to one point by beating Granada, the most important thing is the Catalans are already six points clear of main title rivals Real Madrid.

Barcelona recovered well from the only slip up in the current La Liga campaign, having won the first El Clasico of the season with relative ease.

They have since cemented the first place in the league standings with a 3-0 triumph over Celta Vigo, and are now 1.50 (1/2) for a half-time/full-time win.

Lionel Messi has been struggling for form of late, having failed to score in last three league matches, but he is still just 1.25 (1/4) to end his scoring drought against Espanyol.

Adriano Correia is unlikely to be risked as he battles a hamstring problem, but Iniesta, Xavi, Neymar and Mascherano should be recalled after they were rested against Celta.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-3): Valdes – Alves, Pique, Mascherano, Montoya – Xavi, Busquets, Iniesta – Sanchez, Messi, Neymar.

This season started extremely well for Espanyol, as the team picked up no less than 11 points from first 5 fixtures, but their good run of form was short-lived.

The team then suffered a big dip in form and went on to lose next three matches to Villarreal, Getafe and Elche before recording a very fortunate victory over Atletico Madrid.

The poor results continued as Espanyol suffered a 3-0 defeat to Levante, with midweek’s goalless draw against Malaga doing little to improve the players’ confidence.

Los Periquitos clearly face problems up front and having netted just 2 times in last 5 fixtures, they are 1.91 (10/11) not to score at Camp Nou.

Important midfielder David Lopez has picked up his fifth yellow card of the season, but he is not suspended for the Barcelona clash as the disciplinary meeting has been pushed forward for after the weekend.

However, Sidnei and Christian Stuani are both doubtful, whilst Javi Lopez has been ruled out through a calf problem.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Casilla – Mattioni, Sidnei, Moreno, Fuentes – V. Sanchez, D. Lopez – Lanzarote, Pizzi, Simao – S. Garcia.