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It has been another positive start to the season for Luis Garcia Plaza and Deportivo Alaves as they prepare to welcome Barcelona, who remain top-of-the-table ahead of the weekend, to the Basque Country.
KICK-OFF DATE/TIME: Sunday 6th October, 2024 - UK – 3:15pm / US ET – 10:15am / US PT – 7:15am
HOW TO WATCH ON TV: UK – Premier Sports / US – ESPN have the exclusive rights to La Liga games in the USA, so Alaves vs Barcelona may be televised on one of their affiliated channels
HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: UK – Premier Sports / US – ESPN+
ALAVES PREVIEW: ENJOYABLE ALAVES
Alaves gained promotion to the top-flight in 2023 and they enjoyed an impressive season last year as they managed to propel themselves in the top-half of the table by the end of the campaign, despite rumours mid-way through the season suggesting that Luis Garcia Plaza was on the verge of being sacked.
This time around, once again, the Basque club appear to be punching above their weight relative to pre-season expectations. The home team come into this one on the back of back-to-back defeats, though, backing up a 3-2 defeat to Real Madrid by losing 2-0 in the capital against Getafe.
BARCELONA PREVIEW: BRILLIANT BARCA
The start to Hansi Flick’s time in charge of Barcelona has been a genuinely very impressive one with the Blaugrana sitting at the top-of-the-table, winning their opening seven matches despite a plethora of injuries but they do come into this one on the back of their first defeat of the season, going down by four goals to two in Pamplona against Osasuna.
They have still scored over three goals per game in La Liga so far this season with Lamine Yamal in simply outrageous form. Their most recent outing saw them hammer Young Boys by five goals to nil in the UEFA Champions League in midweek at Estadi Olympic Lluis Companys in Barcelona.
ALAVES TEAM NEWS: FULLY FIT AND AVAILABLE
Ahead of this weekend’s visit of Barcelona, Luis Garcia Plaza is blessed with a fully fit and available squad with no injury issues or suspension concerns.
That means he can name an unchanged eleven but he will likely still want to tweak a couple of things due to their disappointing defeat last time out.
PREDICTED XI (4-2-3-1): Sivera; Tenaglia, Abqar, Sedlar, Diarra; Jordan, Benavidez; Vicente, Stoichkov, Martin; Martinez
UNAVAILABLE:
QUESTIONABLE:
BARCELONA TEAM NEWS: POTENTIAL SZCZESNY DEBUT
The horrific injury suffered by Marc-Andre ter Stegen a couple of weeks ago has prompted the signing of previously retired Wojciech Szczesny and he could make his debut this weekend.
As well as Ter Stegen, Barcelona also have several other key first-team absentees such as Ronald Araujo, Dani Olmo, Frenkie de Jong and Gavi.
PREDICTED XI (4-3-3): Szczesny; Kounde, Dominguez, Cubarsi, Balde; Torre, Garcia, Pedri; Yamal, Lewandowski, Torres
UNAVAILABLE: Ter Stegen (Injured), Christensen (Injured), Araujo (Injured), Bernal (Injured), Lopez (Injured), Olmo (Injured), Gavi (Injured), De Jong (Injured)
QUESTIONABLE:
ALAVES VS BARCELONA PREDICTION
Deportivo Alaves have been surprisingly entertaining since their promotion to the top-flight last season and have shown a capability to hurt even the best of teams, as shown by scoring twice at the Bernabeu. Barcelona have been genuinely brilliant going forward but conceding four last weekend with so many defensive injuries will give Alaves confidence. Barca are favourites for what should be quite a fun and entertaining encounter at Mendizarrozza.
ALAVES VS BARCELONA TIP: BARCELONA TO WIN & OVER 2.5 GOALS