The Yellow Submarine will try to do the impossible on Sunday when they welcome red-hot Barcelona, who are on a 38-unbeaten run in all competitions.

Untimely visit for Villarreal

Barcelona are coming to town at the bad time for Villarreal, who head into the match against the champions on the back of a three-match winless run in the league. What is more, Marcelino’s men have suffered back-to-back La Liga defeats to Las Palmas (1-0) and Sevilla (4-2) last time out and will be aware that getting back to winning ways against the Catalans will be a difficult and almost impossible task. The Yellow Submarine will, however, be buoyed by their European success, having in mind that they have successfully dispatched Bayer Leverkusen with a 2-0 aggregate win in the UEFA Europa League last-16. Turning their focus back to La Liga, Marcelino’s charges find themselves sitting in fourth place at the table, ten points adrift of the third-placed Real Madrid and five points in front of Sevilla in fifth. Villarreal will fear for their Champions League berth until the end as Rojiblancos are coming dangerously close following the last week’s win over Villarreal which allowed them to cut the gap. Cedric Bakambu was the only bright spark from the loss to Sevilla as the 24-year-old Congo forward scored a brace against Rojiblancos to take his total tally to 10 La Liga goals in 26 appearances. The summer signing from Bursaspor is playing in excellent form and will be the one to watch against the Catalans.

Alphonse Areola is having ligaments problems and is not expected to make his return until the end of March. Jaume Costa, Jonathan dos Santos and Samuel also remain sidelined with injuries and out of contention for the Sunday’s match.

Can anyone stop Barcelona?

Luis Enrique’s highflyers have extended their impressive run during the week with a 3-1 victory over Arsenal which saw them progress to the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals thanks to an aggregate win of 5-1. It will be Barcelona’s ninth consecutive quarter-final spot in Europe’s elite competition and, given their current form, Barcelona are standing as clear-cut favourites to retain the European crown. The Catalans have continued with their excellent results, taking their run to 38 matches without defeat. Their last slump was a 2-1 loss to Sevilla back in October, but Luis Enrique’s men have since them embarked on a journey which saw them go from strength to strength, crushing everything and everyone that comes their way. Barcelona are heading into the Villarreal game on the back of their 22^nd straight La Liga victory. Brazilian forward Neymar was the star of the show in the 6-0 demolition of Getafe at Camp Nou last Saturday as he ended the game with a brace in the bag. Barca’s players are leading the line behind Cristiano Ronaldo on top of the top scorers’ chart. Luis Suarez has so far netted 26 league goals, while Messi and Neymar have so far added 22 and 20, respectively. Given their current form, the MSN trio are likely to get on the mark against Villarreal as well.

Good news for Barcelona is the return of Rafinha who was cleared to get back in the team for the first time in six months, following his injury. Sandro Ramirez, on the other side, has suffered a tear in the abductor muscle and will be the only one in the recovery room.

Verdict

Villarreal are experiencing a poor domestic stretch and are coming into the game against Barcelona as underdogs. Catalans are in excellent form and are showing no signs of slowing down, so I firmly believe they will be able to claim all three points from their visit to Madrigal.

Top pick: Away win   1.35 (7/20) @SportingBet

Alternative pick 1: HT/FT Away win   1.91 (10/11) @Coral

Alternative pick 2: Over 2.5 goals   1.57 (4/7) @Bet365