Barcelona will welcome Athletic Club to Camp Nou on Sunday as they target successive wins in Spain's top-flight league at this point in the campaign. While it has been far from a perfect start for the Catalans, they have held their own and are still well-positioned to battle rivals Real Madrid for the league title.
It was not too long ago that Xavi's men were put to the sword in El Clasico. However, they are still grounded in their approach and have already bounced back with a win. Last week, a dominant display against Villarreal was enough to earn them three points and three goals, with Robert Lewandowski and Ansu Fati scoring in the first half to complete the job.
So far, Barca have been able to accrue 25 points from the 30 that was on offer in the first 10 games of the season. Aside from the defeat to Real Madrid in El Clasico, they have not lost to any side in the league this season. The only other moment in which they dropped points was in the 0-0 draw with Rayo Vallecano at the beginning of the season.
This withstanding, Barcelona will be poised to make a difference against Athletic Club as they have resgistered only one loss from the last five outings. On the contrary, the sixth-placed Athletic Club are winless in their last three games and will be eager to get the ball rolling in the right direction for them.
Ernesto Valverde's side will approach Sunday's enocunter on the back of a disappointing three-game winless run. Prior to the recent 2-2 draw with Getafe, they were also defeated 1-0 by Atletico Madrid and managed a 1-1 draw with Sevilla. While the clash with Barcelona might have come too soon for the Basque club, they should relish the opportuntity to potentially make a statement to the rest of the clubs with a big result.
Key stats and head-to-head record for Barcelona vs Athletic Club:
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Barcelona have won 40 out of the last 63 matches played between them and Atletico Club, as opposed to visitor's 10 victories.
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Barca are unbeaten in their last 20 home games against Athletic Bilbao in La Liga - their best run against the Basque side in the competition.
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Athletic Bilbao have failed to register a single away victory against Barcelona for the first time since 2001.
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Athletic Bilbao have collected points in only one of their last 18 matches at the Camp Nou.
Team news for Barcelona vs Athletic club:
Barcelona will head into Sunday's encounter without the services of Andreas Christensen, Ronald Araujo and Memphis Depay due to injuries. For Athletic Club, Ander Capa and Jon Morcillo continue to be unavailable but the otherwise, the club has no fresh injury concerns.
Broadcast info
Match details, result and original broadcast info
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