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

The hosts, meanwhile, will be hoping to remain in the top half of the table by gaining a positive result.

Match preview

After surviving relegation by only one point in their first season back in La Liga, Mallorca will be hoping to remain further away from the danger zone this season.

The club appointed Javier Aguirre as their manager in March earlier this year, with the former Atletico Madrid boss making a decent impact so far, winning 40% of his 15 matches in charge.

After winning two, drawing two and losing two of their opening six league games this season, Los Pirates sit firmly in mid-table heading into the weekend's clash against Barcelona, and may need to at least avoid defeat if they are to remain in the top half of the table.

Aguirre's side bounced back from a 4-1 defeat to Real Madrid by beating Almeria 1-0 at Visit Mallorca Stadium prior to the international break, with Pablo Maffeo's 25th-minute strike providing his team with a crucial victory.

With little expected of Mallorca against Barcelona on Saturday, it is vitally important that they continue to avoid defeat against the teams predicted to be around them in the table towards the end of the season, although any points which they can pick up against La Liga's big boys will only increase their chances of preserving their top-flight status.

Barcelona, meanwhile, are on a run of five successive league wins, having comfortably beaten Elche 3-0 at Camp Nou in their last match prior to the international break.

Memphis Depay's strike was sandwiched by a Robert Lewandowski brace either side of half time, after Gonzalo Verdu's 14th-minute dismissal had provided the visitors with an even more monumental task.

Lewandowski may still be ruing his missed chances against his former club Bayern Munich in the Champions League, with the Bavarians punished the Pole's rare profligacy by claiming a 2-0 win to establish a stranglehold in Group C of the competition.

However, after drawing 0-0 with Rayo Vallecano on the opening day of the campaign, Xavi's side have since looked fully capable of pushing Real Madrid all of the way in La Liga this time around, which would be an achievement in itself given that they finished 13 points behind Carlo Ancelotti's side last season.

They cannot afford to slip up against sides such as Mallorca if they are to do so though, especially with Real Madrid not kicking off until 24 hours later, providing Barca with an opportunity to leapfrog them at the top of the table by a point should they win.

Mallorca La Liga form:

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L

W

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Barcelona La Liga form:

D

W

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Barcelona form (all competitions):

W

W

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Team News

Mallorca could be without Timo Kadewere, Dominik Greif and Amath Ndiaye due to injury on Saturday.

Aguirre is unlikely to make any changes to the starting XI that defeated Almeria last time out, although his wing-backs will almost certainly be asked to do much more defending than usual.

Barcelona, meanwhile, will travel without Depay, Frenkie De Jong and Jules Kounde after the trio picked up muscular injuries on international duty.

Ronald Araujo may miss the rest of the calendar year after undergoing thigh surgery in midweek, while Hector Bellerin will miss most of October's action due to a calf issue, which the former Arsenal full-back sustained in training on Tuesday.

As such, Xavi is short of natural right-backs, with Sergi Roberto potentially set for his first league start of the season having suffered with numerous injuries in the past year or so.

Andreas Christensen, Sergio Busquets and Raphinha are likely to come back into the starting XI, although Xavi must consider squad rotation with a crucial trip to Italy to face Inter Milan in the Champions League in midweek, as well as El Clasico being on the horizon in two weekends' time.

Mallorca possible starting lineup:

Rajkovic; Maffeo, Valjent, Raillo, Copete, Costa; Sanchez, Ruiz de Galarreta, Grenier; Lee, Muriqi

Barcelona possible starting lineup:

Ter Stegen; Roberto, Christensen, Garcia, Alba; Kessie, Busquets, Pedri; Dembele, Lewandowski, Raphinha

We say: Mallorca 1-2 Barcelona

We do not expect Barcelona to win easily on Saturday, especially given their amount of absences through injury.

However, they have been in excellent form of late and should be able to gain a crucial victory in the end, which would move them top of La Liga for 24 hours at least.

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