Barcelona will be looking to extend their winning ways when they take on Villarreal in La Liga tonight, having recently signed off on their Champions League campaign with a victory against Sporting Lisbon.
Barca have won 11 and drawn three of their 14 league games so far and are currently leading the League with 36 points.
They also have a game in hand against their rivals Valencia, Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid, meaning a win today would extend their lead to five points.
However, they have also drawn back-to-back games in La Liga recently, with head coach Valverde commenting on how he thinks the encounter will go.
“Some teams take precautions against strong teams, but teams also have to stay faithful to their own style,” Valverde told reporters.
“I think they’ll try to dominate us as much as they can. They want to be the protagonists of the game – we’re going to try to do the same thing, and we’ll see which team emerges victorious.”
It follows news that Villarreal midfielder Pablo Fornals will not be available for the clash, having collapsed during a training session on Saturday morning.
The Yellow Submarine Coach, Javi Calleja, confirmed that it was a problem caused by hypoglycemia.
Other notable absences from the first-team include Carlos Bacca, keeper Andres Fernandez, midfielder Denis Cheryshev and forward Nicola Sansone.
Barca, meanwhile, will be without Ousmane Dembele, while Andres Iniesta and Javier Mascherano are both doubts.
HOW TO WATCH VILLARREAL VS BARCELONA:
Coverage of today’s game between Villarreal vs Barcelona will be shown live on Sky Sports Main Event, with pre-match build-up starting at 7:40pm, and kick-off set for 7.45pm.
This means that all the action can be followed on your desktop or laptop via the Sky Go app, which if you’re an existing customer, is also available on iOS and Android smartphone and tablet devices.
Sky Go is also available on a number of platforms including Amazon Fire devices, iPad, Mac computers and laptops, Playstation 3, PS4 and Xbox One.
The Sky Sports app, available to download on iOS and Android devices, will also be providing live text coverage and updates.
If you’re not currently a Sky Sports customer but can’t stand to miss out on the action, you can add the channels to your box via a NOW TV subscription.
Day passes, which let you add Sky Sports channels for 24 hours, start at £6.99 a day, with a weekly pass starting from £10.99, and no locking in to a contract.
NOW TV doesn’t even require a typical television to use, as it is also available on a NOW TV Box, Chromecast, PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Roku, LG Smart TV, PC or Mac, and selected mobile and tablet devices.