Barcelona will be looking to get their bright start to the season back on track when they take on Leganes at the Estadio Municipal de Butarque on Wednesday night.
Barca still sit top of the Liga table after five games of the campaign, but saw their perfect start come to an end at the weekend ahead of this bottom-versus-top clash.
Leganes
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Having avoided relegation in both of their top-flight seasons so far, the 2018-19 campaign has begun in ominous fashion for Leganes.
Back-to-back 17th-placed finishes make it appear as though they have been surviving by the skin of their teeth since their arrival in La Liga in 2016, but last season they finished a full 14 points clear of the relegation zone.
However, they only won one of their final six games last season, and that woeful form has carried over into the current campaign with only one point from a possible 15 so far this season.
Indeed, Leganes are one of only three teams yet to pick up a win this term and already find themselves three points adrift of safety, putting some early pressure on new boss Mauricio Pellegrino.
The former Southampton manager arrived this summer with a good reputation in Spanish football despite lasting only nine months at St Mary's, having previously led newly-promoted Alaves to the 2017 Copa del Rey final.
However, a run of three successive defeats have already caused questions to crop up about his future at his latest club, and an expected fourth straight loss on Wednesday would make for their worst run of form since November.
It was Leganes's home form which was largely responsible for keeping them in the division last season, with 31 of their 43 points coming in front of their own fans, while they conceded only 19 goals at home too - a tally only six teams in the league could better.
So far this term they have only managed a draw and a defeat at the Estadio Municipal de Butarque, though, and reviving that form must be Pellegrino's number one priority at the moment.
Matches against Barcelona are not the ideal situation in which to begin that improvement, though, nor will they determine whether Leganes stay up or go down this season, so anything the hosts can get from Wednesday's match will be an unexpected bonus.
Recent La Liga form: LDLLL
Barcelona
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Champions of Spain in seven of the past 10 years, Barcelona have nonetheless had to watch Real Madrid take most of the plaudits in recent seasons due to their success on the European stage.
The same was true again at FIFA's The Best awards on Monday night, when Madrid had four participants in the Team of the Year - five if you include Cristiano Ronaldo - whereas Barcelona had just Lionel Messi, who was controversially omitted from the final nominees for the top award - won, incidentally, by Madrid's Luka Modric.
All of that despite Barcelona finishing 17 points clear of Madrid in La Liga last season, while this term they also lead the way ahead of their Clasico rivals - albeit only on goal difference after five games of the campaign.
Barca had made a perfect start with four successive league wins coupled with Spanish Super Cup glory and an emphatic opening to their Champions League campaign, but they finally dropped their first points of the season at home to Girona on Sunday.
The result was not without controversy; Clement Lenglet was shown a straight red card after a VAR review adjudged him to have purposefully elbowed his opponent - a decision manager Ernesto Valverde strongly disagreed with.
A visit to bottom-placed Leganes looks on paper to be an ideal trip in which to return to winning ways, though, pitting a Barcelona attack which has averaged more than three goals per game in the league so far against the third-worst defensive record in the league.
Barcelona have won both away games so far this season too, and another victory in midweek would see them string together a run of three in a row for the first time since January.
Valverde's side lost just one away game throughout the 2017-18 campaign - that coming at Levante in their final one of the season to deny them an Invincible campaign - scoring more away goals and amassing more away points than any other La Liga team in the process.
Slip-ups are uncommon for the Blaugrana, then, but Valverde will know that they can ill-afford another after Sunday's draw with Girona given a difficult run of fixtures coming up.
After taking on Athletic Bilbao at the weekend, Barca must then face Valencia, Sevilla and Real Madrid in their next three league games - all of whom finished in the top seven last season - in addition to Champions League showdowns with Tottenham Hotspur and Inter Milan.
Recent form: WWWWD
Recent form (all competitions): WWWWWD
Team News
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Barcelona have appealed the decision to send Lenglet off against Girona, and a decision will be made whether to uphold his suspension or not on Tuesday.
Should Lenglet miss the game then Samuel Umtiti - one of a number of players rested from the start at the weekend - will slot back in alongside Gerard Pique in central defence.
The likes of Ivan Rakitic and Philippe Coutinho could also return to the side, while summer signing Malcom is in contention again after injury.
Valverde could be tempted to continue the rotation by resting one of his front three, although Messi has eight goals in seven games so far this season while Ousmane Dembele is not far behind with five to his name already.
Pellegrino, meanwhile, could welcome Jonathan Silva back into his starting lineup, while former Liverpool attacker Nabil El Zhar will also be pushing for a recall as their top league scorer this season with two.
Leganes possible starting lineup:
Cuellar; Juanfran, Bustinza, Slovas, Silva; El Zhar, Perez, Gumbau, Rolan; Santos, Carrillo
Barcelona possible starting lineup:
Ter Stegen; Roberto, Pique, Umtiti, Alba; Rakitic, Busquets, Arthur; Messi, Suarez, Coutinho
Head To Head
These two sides have met on four previous occasions, with Barcelona winning all of those by an aggregate scoreline of 13-3.
The corresponding fixture last season saw Barca run out 3-0 winners thanks largely to a Luis Suarez brace, and on their first ever visit to this stadium they eased to a 5-1 triumph.
Leganes have scored in three out of their four meetings with Barca, though, and most recently pushed them close until an 87th-minute strike from Messi completed his hat-trick and secured a 3-1 win in April.
We say: Leganes 0-3 Barcelona
There looks to only be one winner in this match, with Leganes going into the game in poor form and Barcelona eager to bounce back from their weekend disappointment.
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