Fresh from clinching the La Liga title, Barcelona return to action with a home fixture against Real Sociedad on Saturday night.
With four games left to play, Barca hold an unassailable 14-point lead over second-placed Real Madrid, while fourth-placed Sociedad sit 23 points shy of the newly-crowned champions.
LA LIGA CHAMP🏆ONS! pic.twitter.com/enrozFf9gs— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) May 14, 2023
LA LIGA CHAMP🏆ONS! pic.twitter.com/enrozFf9gs
That said, the visitors still have their own targets to take care of, as they find themselves five points inside the top four on their quest for Champions League football.
Barcelona wrapped up the title with a 4-2 victory over rivals Espanyol last weekend, with Robert Lewandowski bagging a brace in the title decider.
Thanks to that victory, Barca have now won each of their last three La Liga games, with a solitary defeat coming in their previous 11 domestic outings.
In terms of the better picture, Xavi’s men have lost just three of their 34 league matches this season, picking up 27 wins along the way.
It is also worth pointing out that Barcelona have conceded a measly 13 goals this term, while goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen has chalked up 25 clean sheets.
Real Sociedad, meanwhile, recorded a 2-2 draw against Girona last time out, throwing away a two-goal lead after early strikes from Mikel Oyarzabal and David Silva.
Still, Sociedad head into Saturday’s clash on a five-game unbeaten streak, having collected three wins and two draws since their last loss.
Let's not forget that La Real secured a hugely impressive 2-0 victory over Real Madrid a fortnight ago, courtesy of goals from Takefusa Kubo and Ander Barrenetxea.
Given that each of Sociedad’s past seven away games have produced under 2.5 goals, Saturday’s clash is likely to be a low-scoring affair.
Head-to-head: Real Sociedad’s last victory over Barcelona came back in 2016. Since then, Barca have recorded 14 wins in 17 meetings with La Real.
Not only have Barcelona won each of their last six La Liga meetings with Sociedad, but they have also won 11 of the previous 12.
Team news: Barcelona forward Gavi is suspended due to an accumulation of yellow cards, so Ousmane Dembele is expected to join Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha in attack.
As for Real Sociedad, they will be without the injured trio of Brais Mendez, Umar Sadiq and Martin Merquelanz for the trip to Camp Nou.
Although Barcelona have already secured the title, Xavi and his players will be eager to finish the season on a high.
With that in mind, Forebet predicts that Barca will score over 1.5 goals and keep a clean sheet en route to dispatching Real Sociedad.