TEAM NEWS
Pep Guardiola's Barcelona squad has been stretched a little thinner than usual ahead of the visit of Real Sociedad. Long-term absentees David Villa and Ibrahim Afellay are joined in the sidelines by Andres Iniesta andPedro, who both have thigh injuries, but AlexisSanchez seems to have shaken off any worries over a potential shoulder problem.
Sociedad will be without David Zurutuza, who scored a well-taken brace but then broke his nose in the 45-1 drubbing of Sporting Gijon that led to Manuel Preciado's sacking. Fellow midfielder Gorka Elustondo is also out, while Imanol Agirretxe, Xabi Prieto, Alberto de la Bella and Vadim Demidov are all doubtful.
MANAGER QUOTES
Pep Guardiola: "A lot of people believe the league is already lost, but they will not convince me. Let me believe that we can win again and if we cannot we'll congratulate our opponents. We've done well for a long, long, long time, and you don't know how hard that is. The players must put in the effort to continue. They will regret it if they don't. We cannot give up yet."
Philippe Montanier: "It's a pity for Zurutuza to score the two goals in such good form and then hurt his nose. We will keep him in our thoughts."
MATCH FACTS
Barcelona have won their last 13 at home to Real Sociedad in the league: of current sides they are only on a longer winning run against Granada (22).
Barcelona have won three of their last five at home to the Txuri-urdin by a score of 1-0, and two by a score of 5-0.
Barcelona are unbeaten in their last 28 league games at home (W25 D3).
Real Sociedad are one of only two current LigaBBVA sides against whom Barca are without a win in their last two meetings (D1 L1), along with Sevilla (D2).
Catalonian sides have won their last 11 matches at home to Basque sides in Primera, since Real Sociedad’s 3-1 win at Gimnastic Tarragona in May 2007.
Barcelona have conceded just four goals in their last 13 matches at home to Basque sides in the league (13 wins and 33 goals scored).
Pep Guardiola’s men have the best goal difference at home of any side in Europe’s top-five leagues this season (+41, Bayern +29, Real Madrid and Man City +28).
Philippe Montanier’s men have lost just one of their last nine league games (W4 D4).
Real Sociedad have scored the highest proportion of their LigaBBVA goals in the second half this season (16/22, 73%).
Lionel Messi has scored 16 left-footed goals in the league this season, 11 more than any other player (Michu and Ruben Suarez).
MATCH ODDS
Barcelona 1/10, Real Sociedad 28/1, Draw 12/1
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