Barcelona vs Las Palmas Prediction: A comfortable night for Barca?

Barcelona are back at the Estadi Olimpic on Saturday (20:00) and they’re massive favourites to defeat a Las Palmas side that sits comfortably in mid-table as we head into the final stretch of the season.

Our Spanish football expert Mark Sochon has previewed the tie and shared a couple of Barcelona vs Las Palmas predictions for you to consider.

All of a sudden, things feel a whole lot brighter for Barcelona after two fantastic results heading into the international break. So much so, there’s even the suggestion that Xavi may be regretting announcing his summer departure after a series of unconvincing performances back in January - although the Barca boss is insistent that he hasn’t changed his mind.

He frequently cites the announcement as having helped to free up his players and while that’s debatable, there can be no doubt now that Barca do appear to be on an upward curve.

They’ve got a Champions League quarter-final against PSG to look forward to after seeing off Napoli 4-2 on aggregate in the last 16. They’re also just about still in a title race after a convincing 3-0 win away to Atletico Madrid in their final game before the internationals.

That was a surprising result and scoreline given it came at a ground where Atleti boasted an almost perfect record over the previous 12 months, dropping just two league points over that period before the visit of the defending champions.

Robert Lewandowski produced a big game performance, scoring one and assisting the other two goals while somewhat inevitably Joao Felix turned up against his parent club, scoring the opener having done likewise in the reverse fixture back in December.

It wasn’t quite the perfect evening for Xavi who was sent off for his protests and will serve a touchline ban on Saturday, although that shouldn’t have too much of an impact on his team’s ability to see off this Las Palmas side.

The side from Gran Canaria have massively exceeded expectations on their return to La Liga and with 37 points already look in a position of absolute safety. Their coach Garcia Pimienta has earned rave reviews for the job he has done with a squad that still feels somewhat light in terms of genuine quality.

Recent results do suggest that reality might be starting to bite for this Las Palmas side though. They’ve picked up just two points from their last five league matches and were beaten 1-0 at home by the previously winless Almeria a fortnight ago.

That doesn’t bode well for their chances at the Estadi Olimpic on Saturday. It’ll be interesting to see how Pimienta, who spent 15 years working at Barcelona with their youth and reserve sides before taking over at Las Palmas, approaches this game.

He’s very much schooled in the “Barca way” with Las Palmas averaging 61% possession in La Liga, which is second only to their opponents this weekend. It’s hard to see him ripping up the usual playbook, but he could opt for a slightly more pragmatic approach in such a tough fixture.

Match Odds

Barcelona head into the game as the 2/7 favourites to record a fourth-straight win in all competitions. You can back the draw at 5/1, while Las Palmas are a distant 9/1 to record what would be a very surprising victory.

To get bigger returns out of backing the home team to take care of business, you can back Barcelona and over 2.5 goals at 4/6 - while Barcelona and over 3.5 goals is on offer at 6/4.

Xavi’s men also look good with a -1 handicap at 8/11. If you fancy them to at least match their three-goal win a fortnight ago, Barcelona -2 is available at 9/5.

With doubts over which way the Barca boss will decide to go in terms of team selection in attack, you may want to look to midfield for a goalscorer bet where Xavi’s options are considerably more limited. Fermin Lopez, who headed home the third in Madrid last time out, is available at 11/5 to score anytime, while you can back Ilkay Gundogan to do likewise at 5/2.

Team News

Barcelona are still expected to be missing Pedri, Frenkie de Jong, Gavi and Andreas Christensen to injuries which again limits their midfield options, but they’ve coped remarkably well despite those problems in the centre of the pitch.

Alejandro Balde is also out, while Xavi may consider resting Robert Lewandowski and Lamine Yamal who both featured prominently on Tuesday for their countries. Joao Felix could be set for a second consecutive start after his goal at the Estadio Metropolitano.

Las Palmas are only expected to have one absentee which is right-back Julian Araujo who is ineligible against his parent club and is also nursing an injury. Garcia Pimienta may opt to freshen up their XI though after a really poor result a fortnight ago against the bottom club.

Barcelona to win to nil @ 23/20

Las Palmas’ away record against strong opposition this season is particularly bleak. They’ve travelled to teams currently in the top-eight on six occasions so far and have lost all of those games to nil, which doesn’t exactly bode well for their chances this weekend.

What’s more, Barcelona do feel like they have made some defensive improvements over the past month or so. The emergence of 17-year-old centre-back Pau Cubarsi has been a big factor in that, while injuries to the likes of Pedri and De Jong has resulted in a more combative midfield which has also helped to give the back four a bit more protection.

It’s hard to see a low scoring Las Palmas side causing too many problems here and I’m backing Barcelona to win to nil.

#PickYourPunt - Barcelona to win, Barcelona most corners & Gundogan +1 shots @ 10/11

This feels like a match between two coaches and teams who try to do fairly similar things in terms of dominating possession and using patient build-up play to launch attacks. With a lot of extra quality, Barcelona should have the edge across the pitch though and it’s a game they ought to boss from the outset, even if it may take them a bit of time to break down their opponents.

With Las Palmas enduring their worst run of the season, Barcelona should certainly win this game with home advantage and they’re highly likely to rack up more corners than their opponents.

Given that, I’m using the #PickYourPunt builder to back Barcelona to win, Barcelona most corners & Ilkay Gundogan 1+ shots with the German an important attacking player for his team right now, registering four attempts on goal in his last two league outings.

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