Sevilla vs. Barcelona: Team News, Predicted Line-Ups, Live Stream & TV Info
Barcelona are hoping to hand Sevilla their first home league defeat in more than 13 months on Saturday as Luis Enrique's men look to extend their lead at La Liga's summit.
The Catalan giants will be buoyed by the knowledge that it was they who inflicted that result upon Los Rojiblancos in February 2014, but Saturday's hosts have come a long way since then.
Barca hold a four-point cushion travelling to Seville, but their hosts pose a very real threat in pulling the leaders back down to Earth should they be able to maintain their stellar run at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.
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Date: Saturday, April 11
Time: 7 p.m. BST/2 p.m. ET
Venue: Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium, Seville
Live Stream: Sky Go (UK), beIN Sports Play (US)
TV Info: Sky Sports 5 (UK), beIN Sports 2 (US)
Form Guides
Sevilla
| Result | Score | Opposition |
| W | 1-2 | Levante |
| W | 2-0 | Athletic Bilbao |
| W | 0-2 | Villarreal |
| W | 2-1 | Villarreal |
| W | 3-0 | Elche |
Barcelona
| Result | Score | Opposition |
| W | 4-0 | Almeria |
| W | 0-1 | Celta Vigo |
| W | 2-1 | Real Madrid |
| W | 1-0 | Manchester City |
| W | 0-2 | Eibar |
Team News
Sergio Busquets will be free to join back up with Enrique's ranks on Saturday after serving a one-match suspension in midweek as one of several first-string stars to miss the 4-0 win over Almeria.
As football writer Samuel Jay C pointed out, Andres Iniesta, Neymar and Gerard Pique were also among those rested for the victory and could return to give Barca a major boost this weekend:
Adriano filled in at left-back for Wednesday evening's encounter, but the official Barcelona Twitter account revealed on Thursday that Jordi Alba is on course for a return against Sevilla:
Jeremy Mathieu and Luis Suarez each has four yellow cards in league competition this term, meaning another caution against Sevilla for either would see them miss next Saturday's key clash against Valencia.
Carlos Bacca and Benoit Tremoulinas are in an identical position for Sevilla, having each accumulated four yellows this season, with a trip to Granada on their agenda next Sunday.
Emery has no new major injury concerns to contend with for Saturday's visit of Barca, but we're likely to see Coke return at right-back in place of Diogo Figueiras, while Bacca should return to the starting XI.
The Argentina national team's Twitter account confirmed on Wednesday that Ever Banega was back in training with his club ahead of Saturday's tie, having missed Tuesday's 2-1 win at Levante (tweet in Spanish):
Predicted Formations
Sevilla (4-2-3-1)
Sergio Rico; Coke, Benoit Tremoulinas, Dani Pareja, Daniel Carrico; Grzegorz Krychowiak, Ever Banega; Vicente Iborra, Vitolo, Jose Antonio Reyes; Carlos Bacca
Barcelona (4-3-3)
Claudio Bravo; Dani Alves, Jordi Alba, Gerard Pique, Jeremy Mathieu; Sergio Busquets, Ivan Rakitic, Andres Iniesta; Lionel Messi, Neymar, Luis Suarez
| Sevilla Win | 4-1 |
| Draw | 10-3 |
| Barcelona Win | 8-13 |
| Barcelona Lead at HT and FT | 5-4 |
Key Players to Watch
As one of only a few players effectively assured to start for Barcelona on Saturday, Luis Suarez shone in the midweek meeting against Almeria and bagged two goals to lead Enrique's side to victory.
After a slow start to life in Spain, the Uruguay international has assuredly found his feet and will be a menace to watch out for on Saturday, with Barcastuff detailing his 2015 hot streak:
"With 9 goals and 4 assists, Luis Suarez has been directly involved in 13 goals in 13 Liga games in the year 2015 #fcblive [via sq]
— barcastuff (@barcastuff) April 9, 2015"
Having started from the bench against Levante, Carlos Bacca will be looking to make an impact against huge opposition should he return to Emery's starting lineup as expected.
Following his scoring performance against Athletic Bilbao last weekend, Bacca courted praise from ESPN FC's Dermot Corrigan, who ranks the Colombian as among the finest finishers in Spain:
Key Battle
Grzegorz Krychowiak vs. Sergio Busquets
There was some controversy as to the method by which Busquets picked up his yellow card against Celta Vigo last weekend, with some supposing the caution was intentional in order to miss the low-risk match with Almeria.
Irrespective of the circumstances, however, Busquets returns to give Barcelona a major boost in midfield, but comes up against a similarly tough engine-room figure in Grzegorz Krychowiak.
In short, the Pole could be Emery's most important player on Saturday. Any hopes Sevilla have of defending their rampant home streak comes down to whether or not they can dictate momentum from their core, a pursuit in which Krychowiak will have pivotal influence.
Stopping the likes of Lionel Messi, Suarez and Neymar up front is a near impossible feat, but cutting off their supply is not, and that's precisely where Krychowiak will look to have his say.
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