Despite sitting at the La Liga summit, Barcelona will be desperate to make amends for the resounding loss in the El Clasico match, but the game against Celta will be anything but a walk in the park. With the Sky Blues featuring a number of players who failed to make the grade at Camp Nou and looking very good at the moment, we could see a very interesting match in Catalunya.

Disappointing showing in El Clasico

In spite of some serious changes to the playing and coaching personnel in the summer, Barcelona looked very good in the opening exchanges and they quickly created a four-point advantage over their bitter rivals. The 3-2 loss to PSG in the Champions League did not prove costly and the Catalans entered last week’s El Clasico in great spirits, with star signing Luis Suarez having served his lengthy ban. It was the Uruguayan who assisted Neymar to help Barcelona take an early lead at the Bernabeu, but things quickly started taking a wrong turn, with Real going on to score three goals and missing a host of clear-cut chances to embarrass Luis Enrique’s side. It is now paramount that the Catalans respond in the right manner and return to winning ways against Celta, but their defensive frailties could again be on display when facing attack-minded Sky Blues. The hosts will want to score as many goals as possible but will almost certainly leave plenty of space behind, meaning Claudio Bravo could be in for another busy evening.

Luis Suarez is likely to keep his place in the side, but Andres Iniesta, Douglas and Thomas Vermaelen are out injured.

Planas out, but Fontas, Sergi Gomez & Nolito return to Camp Nou

It was current Barcelona coach Luis Enrique who led Celta Vigo to top table finish last term, but the Sky Blues continued in the same manner under new boss Eduardo Berizzo. The Galician side have been pretty impressive in the opening exchanges, winning four of nine matches to climb to sixth in the league standings, scoring impressive 17 goals in the process. It is attacking trio of Orellana, Nolito and Larrivey that has been scoring goals for fun of late and no doubt they will prove difficult to contain at Camp Nou. Nolito, playing arguably the best football of his career, will have a special motive to do well in Catalunya, having started his career at Barcelona, but never got a chance to prove his worth. Defenders Sergi Gomez and Andreu Fontas are two more La Masia products, while fourth of those, Marc Planas, misses out through injury. With the visitors high on confidence at the moment, they are looking to adopt a positive approach at Camp Nou and that should guarantee us a highly entertaining encounter where Celta should have plenty of chances to score.

Marc Planas is out with a hamstring problem, but Andreu Fontas and Fabian Orellana are back. Borja Oubina and Augusto Fernandez are not yet ready to return.

Verdict

Barcelona are not exactly on top of their game at the moment, and while they remain favourites to claim maximum points, the Catalans will have to be wary of Celta’s counter-attacks. Their shaky back line could experience all sorts of problems against the likes of Nolito, Larrivey and Orellana, and we could easily see goals galore at Camp Nou.

Top pick: Both teams to score   2.00 (1/1) @ Unibet

Alternative pick 1: Home win & both teams to score   2.40 (7/5) @ bet365

Alternative pick 2: Over 3.5 goals   1.75 (3/4) @ Ladbrokes