La Liga preview: Eibar vs Barcelcona

La Liga preview: Eibar vs Barcelcona

Eibar play Barcelona in the highlight fixture from La Liga this weekend. Looking for value in the Eibar vs. Barcelona odds? Read on to inform your Eibar vs. Barcelona prediction.

A close look at the Eibar vs. Barcelona odds

The odds suggest a Barcelona win with the away side money line favourites to win the match. It is not likely to be a close game with Barcelona 1.806* favourites on the -1 handicap.

Odds of 1.714* on Eibar to score in the match suggest they could be the first Serie A side to score against Barcelona in five games.

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Eibar vs. Barcelona stats: What you need to know

Time: Saturday 18th February 11:30 GMT kickoff

Venue: Stadio Olimpico Grande Eibar

Barcelona are yet to lose a La Liga away game this season (won nine, drawn three)

Barca have drawn their last two games

The Catalan side are La Liga’s top scoring team

Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez (36 goals) have scored more La Liga goals than Eibar (34 goals)

Eibar have lost every fixture they have played against Barcelona (7 losses)

The home side are undefeated in their last four La Liga matches

Charles is Eibar’s leading scorer with six La Liga goals

Eibar have conceded 34 goals from an expected goals against of 27.78 

Inform your Eibar vs. Barcelona prediction

Seventh-placed Eibar welcome league leaders Barcelona to the Ipurua Municipal Stadium. The Basque side are Europa league contenders and will be aiming to secure their first ever positive result against the Catalans.

Barca have dropped four points in their last two games and have allowed Atletico to close to within seven points at the top of La Liga. They will need to avoid a repeat of poor results against Espanyol and Getafe. 

Recent results should not distract from the challenge facing Eibar. Barcelona have only conceded 11 goals in La Liga whilst scoring 60. They have added Phillipe Coutinho and the returning Ousmane Dembele to a team that already contains La Liga’s two highest scorers.

Those two players, Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, have outscored 14 of the 20 La Liga teams this season (including Eibar). In contrast Eibar’s leading scorer Charles has found the net six times this season.

One source of hope for Eibar is Barca’s poor attacking performances in their last two games. Barcelona averaged just 0.85 expected goals across these games suggesting they struggled to create chances rather than suffering from misfortune or poor finishing.

Eibar have conceded only 13 goals at home and will test the creativity of Barcelona’s attack.

Eibar vs. Barcelona: Where is the value?

Despite their recent attacking difficulty, Barcelona are still Barcelona. Lionel Messi started as a substitute against Espanyol and was quiet by his high standards in the draw with Getafe.

Both Messi and Barcelona have too much quality to be stifled for a third time in a row so a bet on Barcelona to win the -1 handicap at 1.806* offers value.

Adding Suarez and Coutinho to Messi’s brilliance should ensure a high scoring game. Barca alone average 2.6 goals per La Liga game so a bet on over 2.5 goals at 1.662* could be a sensible one.

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