Prediction: Valencia vs Barcelona

20th September 2011

La Liga leaders Valencia play host to reigning champions Barcelona in what should be an enthralling encounter at Mestalla. Having won all three league games this term, los Che enter the match in confident mood, whereas Barcelona players can be forgiven for feeling the same way after putting eight past Osasuna at the weekend.

Due to the poor financial situation, Valencia have been forced to sell their key players over the last couple of years, with Villa, Silva and Mata all leaving Mestalla, and the club not only managed to cope with the departures, but somehow even reinforced their position in Spanish and European football. After coming just behind Barcelona and Real in La Liga and showing a lot of promise in Champions League last season, Unai Emery’s men quickly hit the ground running this term, and went on to win their first three league games. With pretty big squad at his disposal, the gaffer has been deploying a rotation policy from the very start of the season, but he is expected to field the strongest possible line-up against Barcelona, that is if La Liga top scorer Roberto Soldado makes an expected recovery from a foot injury to keep his place in the side. Full-backs Miguel and Mathieu should return to the starting line-up after being rested against Sporting Gijon.

Barcelona boss Josep Guardiola cannot be entirely satisfied with how his side have started this season, but he can definitely take a lot of positives from first five competitive games. After both attack and defence worked well in convincing victories over Porto and Villarreal, Barcelona couldn’t beat Real Sociedad and Milan, with the poor defensive performance the main reason for the minor setbacks. The Catalans clearly struggled to cope with the absence of Puyol and Pique, conceding some cheap goals in the aforementioned games, while the only reason why Barca kept a clean sheet against Osasuna was that their opponents were fully focused with guarding their own goal and didn’t have time to think about testing Victor Valdes. While the Catalans look more than capable of scoring at Mestalla after beating Osasuna 8:0, their defensive problems could continue against very good Valencia side. Carles Puyol should start, but Pique, Sanchez and Iniesta remain sidelined.

Conclusion

With Valencia looking to prove they are genuine title contenders and Barcelona hoping to return to the top, there is every chance we will see a very open game at Mestalla. The two sides look thoroughly impressive up front, but are leaving a lot of space at the back, meaning that both teams to score looks like the best option here.

Verdict: Both teams to score

Best Odds: 2/3

Bookmaker: Victor Chandler