Valencia vs. Barcelona: Date, Time, Live Stream, TV Info and Preview
Barcelona will attempt to carry on their rise back to top form when making the trip to Valencia on Sunday, having won their last four games after suffering back-to-back defeats four weeks ago.
Luis Enrique's men have been on a warpath since then, netting 13 goals in their four games since, but Los Che will be a tough adversary after showing promise for top-four contention this season.
Nuno Espirito Santo hopes his men can stand up to the test of the Blaugrana after going through their own unsavoury patch of late.
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Read on for match preview and full viewing information for Sunday's clash at the Mestalla.
Date: Sunday, Nov. 30
Time: 8 p.m. GMT/3 p.m. ET
TV Info: Sky Sports 5 (UK), beIN Sports 2 (US)
Valencia At Risk of Top-Four Fallout
Having failed to pick up a victory in either of their last two La Liga outings, Valencia teeter at a crossroads, with just four points separating them from second-place Barcelona but an equal distance from Celta Vigo in seventh.
The club showed so much promise earlier this season, but the fall in form shows even the slightest nudge can be catastrophic at this level. Defeat on Sunday could see Valencia drop out of the top four for the first time in 2014-15.
Last time out in a domestic fixture, Barca put five past Sevilla in a match that saw Lionel Messi find his finest form, and Luis Suarez's adaptation is slowly coming along, unfortunately for Los Che.
What's more, Barcelona announced that Andres Iniesta had resumed full training this week, providing Enrique with yet more good news prior to the trip down Spain's east coast:
With Malaga and Sevilla hot on their heels, Nuno's men are once again finding out what it means to be hotly involved in La Liga's race for the top spots.
A win could see them shift into third, depending on how Atletico Madrid fare against Deportivo La Coruna, but the team will regard this as their toughest task of the season so far.
Key Battle
Paco Alcacer vs. Jeremy Mathieu
It hardly seemed like coincidence that Valencia's defeat to Levante last weekend, just their second loss of the 2014-15 campaign, came about in the absence of this season's joint-top scorer Paco Alcacer.
However, Sunday's hosts were pleased to see Alcacer back in full training this week, per Inside La Liga, recovering from his hamstring injury and looking likely to start against Barca:
The 4-3-3 has been Nuno's most successful approach this term, and in that formation he'll hope to confound Jeremy Mathieu, the former Valencia defender who departed for Camp Nou pastures this past summer.
Mathieu had his doubters upon moving to Barcelona but has impressed as arguably Enrique's finest asset at the back, needed all the more after the club announced Thomas Vermaelen's debut will be further delayed:
Alcacer gives Valencia haste in attack, a focal point and driving force that their midfielders and other attacking players don't possess in the same potency.
He'll of course rely on the likes of Dani Parejo, Rodrigo and Pablo Piatti to play their parts as playmakers, but Mathieu will be striving to reject his former team-mate at every turn.
