Barcelona are three points adrift of top spot at the time of writing, although Clasico rivals and league leaders Real Madrid have played one game fewer than the Catalans due to their participation in the Club World Cup in Japan last month. Luis Enrique's charges therefore cannot afford to slip up too often in the second half of the campaign if they want to retain the title, with Madrid clear favourites at this point in time. Barca did play some excellent football at the tail end of 2016, though, and will believe that their championship chances remain intact ahead of Sunday's visit to the Estadio El Madrigal.
After the sacking of manager Marcelino just before the start of the La Liga season, most Villarreal supporters would not have expected their team to have done so well in the first 16 matches of the campaign. It is credit to Fran Escriba, then, that the Yellow Submarine are in the Champions League spots and just five points behind their upcoming opponents. Villarreal ended 2016 with back-to-back victories over Atletico Madrid and Sporting Gijon and will be looking to keep their winning run going on Sunday night.
Luis Enrique has no major injury concerns heading into this weekend's clash, with Jeremy Mathieu having now returned to full training following a spell on the sidelines. Gerard Pique and Javier Mascherano will probably start ahead of the Frenchman in the centre of the Barcelona defence, however, with Sergio Busquets, Andres Iniesta and Ivan Rakitic set to make up the three-man midfield in advance of them. Up top, a forward line of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar is frightening and means Barca have a good chance of winning games even when they are not operating at their optimum level of performance.
Villarreal, meanwhile, will definitely have to make do without strikers Cedric Bakambu Roberto Soldado, while Bruno Soriano, Denis Cheryshev and Bojan Jokic will all have to be assessed by the club's medical staff prior to kick-off. While Escriba usually sets up his side in a 4-4-2 formation, he may be tempted to switch to a 4-2-3-1 setup on this occasion; he has made that alteration in certain matches this term and could be of the belief that an extra man in midfield will be particularly important against a possession-based side like Barcelona.
This should be an intriguing affair and the Catalan outfit will certainly not have everything their own way at the Estadio El Madrigal. Nevertheless, a narrow away victory - perhaps by a margin of two goals to one - looks to be the best bet in this one, with Neymar a sensible choice to find the back of the net anytime. The Brazil international has scored six goals in all competitions so far this season and represents a better value alternative to attacking teammates Messi and Suarez.
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