Fourth-placed Real Betis aim to become the first team to beat Barcelona in La Liga this season, and, after seeing off Real Madrid at their Estadio Benito Villamarin, Pepe Mel’s side definitely have reason for optimism.

Barcelona, on the other hand, hope to extend their winning run in the league to eight games, and keep the six-point cushion intact.

Real Betis earned the tag of one of the most entertaining sides in the elite division thanks to some impressive showings last season, but nobody could predict los Verdiblancos would be doing so well this term.

Despite only spending €2.2 million on new players, Real Betis were simply outstanding in the opening exchanges, climbing to the fourth place in the overall standings.

Taking into account the team are now on a three-match winning run that started with the 1-0 win over Real Madrid, there may be some value in backing Real Betis to win at odds of 11.00 (10/1) offered at BetVictor.

On the other hand, Pepe Mel’s side are 1.67 (2/3) with Stan James to score against Barcelona, which is a great market in my opinion.

Defender Mario, Paulao and Perquis have all resumed full training, which is great news for the hosts, even if neither of the players is expected to start against Barcelona.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Adrian – Chica, Amaya, Dorado, Nacho – Benat, Canas – Molina, Sevilla, Campbell – Ruben Castro.

Everybody at Barcelona has spent last few days worrying about Lionel Messi, after the superstar suffered a knee injury in the Champions League draw with Benfica.

Tito Vilanova’s decision to introduce the Argentine just before the hour mark could have come back to haunt him, but he was delighted to hear the injury was not as serious as first feared.

Messi has even trained on Thursday while his teammates had a day off, and there is every chance that he will play against Real Betis.

However, there is a possibility that the Argentine will not be risked at Estadio Benito Villamarin, which is why I see no value in odds of 1.33 (3/9) offered at Ladbrokes on away win.

The good news is that Alexis Sanchez, Dani Alves and Marc Bartra have all resumed full training, and the trio should be in contention for the Betis game.

On top of that, Andreas Iniesta and Jordi Alba both trained on Wednesday after missing some training at the start of the week.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-3): Valdes – Alves, Puyol, Pique, Alba – Xavi, Busquets, Iniesta – Pedro, Fabregas, Villa.