Preview: Barcelona vs. Levante - prediction, team news, lineups

Barcelona will be looking to recover from back-to-back defeats when they continue their 2020-21 La Liga campaign at home to Levante on Sunday night.

The Catalan giants lost against Cadiz last weekend and are currently down in ninth position in the table, while Levante occupy 17th, having struggled for points in the opening months of the season.

Match preview

© Reuters

There is no getting away from the fact that it has been a desperately disappointing start to the season for Barca, who have won four, drawn two and lost four of their 10 league matches to collect 14 points, which has left them down in ninth position in the table heading into the next set of fixtures.

Ronald Koeman 's side do have games in hand over a lot of the teams both above and around them, but they are now 12 points behind leaders Atletico Madrid on the same number of matches.

The Catalan giants recorded a 4-0 win over Osasuna in their last home league game at the end of November but could not build on the result, suffering a 2-1 loss away to Cadiz last weekend.

Barca also lost 3-0 at home to Juventus in the Champions League on Tuesday night, although they had already booked their spot in the knockout round of the competition.

Koeman's side will be desperate to return to winning ways ahead of a tough game against high-flying Real Sociedad on December 16, but they have lost two of their last five league clashes with Levante.

© Reuters

A return of 11 points from 11 matches has left Levante in 17th position in the table, level on points with 18th-placed Osasuna ahead of this weekend's clash at Camp Nou.

Paco Lopez 's side will actually bring a six-game unbeaten run into the contest, playing out five straight 1-1 draws between October 26 and November 27 before recording a 3-0 win over Getafe last time out.

The Frogs, who finished 12th in La Liga last season, have enjoyed some recent success over Barca, although they have struggled against the Catalan giants at Camp Nou.

Levante will not be under any pressure on Sunday night, but they have another tough game against Real Sociedad on December 19 ahead of a huge fixture at home to fellow strugglers Huesca on December 22 and will not want to end 2020 inside the bottom three.

Barcelona La Liga form: LDWLWL

Barcelona form (all competitions): LWWWLL

Levante La Liga form: DDDDDW

Team News

© Reuters

Barca will again be without the services of Ansu Fati, Sergi Roberto, Gerard Pique and Ousmane Dembele through injury, but Koeman's side did not pick up any fresh issues against Juve.

Fit-again Ronald Araujo should continue alongside Clement Lenglet in the middle of the defence, but there is expected to be changes from the Juve clash, with Sergio Busquets and Philippe Coutinho in line for starts.

Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann will also be in the XI, leaving Martin Braithwaite and Pedri to battle for the other attacking spot, and the latter could ultimately get the nod on the right.

Levante, meanwhile, will again be without the services of injured trio Enis Bardhi, Jose Campana and Cheick Doukoure for Sunday's contest.

Head coach Lopez is unlikely to make many changes from the side that impressively recorded a 3-0 home win over Getafe last weekend. Jorge de Frutos should keep his spot in a wide area, while Ruben Rochina, Gonzalo Melero and Nikola Vukcevic are also likely to feature in midfield positions.

There could be an alteration in the final third of the field, though, with Jose Luis Morales, who has scored four league goals this season, potentially replacing Dani Gomez.

Barcelona possible starting lineup:

Ter Stegen; Dest, Araujo, Lenglet, Alba; De Jong, Busquets; Coutinho, Messi, Pedri; Griezmann

Levante possible starting lineup:

Fernandez; Coke, Vezo, Postigo, Clerc; De Frutos, Melero, Vukcevic, Rochina; Morales, Marti

We say: Barcelona 2-0 Levante

There is a lot of pressure on Koeman to deliver a positive result on Sunday night, and are expecting Barca to return to winning ways. Levante are certainly capable of making it an uncomfortable 90 minutes, but the Catalan side should have enough to pick up a much-needed three points.

Top betting tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting over 2.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.