BARCELONA have been in formidable form this season and look to be well on the march towards the La Liga title, starting the weekend nine points clear at the top. Real Sociedad are the next team charged with trying to stop the Nou Camp juggernauts when they host them at the Reale Arena on Sunday, November 10th.
How the bookies view it: Barca odds-on for away win
There is little surprise that the bookmakers have priced Barcelona as strong favourites for this match. They are on a hot streak of form and are scoring for fun thanks to Robert Lewandowski. Real Sociedad are priced up as 4/1 outsiders for this home fixture.
Recent head-to-head: Barcelona boss previous meetings
Barcelona have lost one of their last twenty matches against Real Sociedad in all competitions. That’s a pretty comprehensive record and Barca have won eight of the last nine league meetings (L1). Real Sociedad have lost their last four on home turf against the Blaugrana in La Liga. It’s been pretty much one-way traffic and four of the last five of the last eight meetings have gone over 2.5 goals.
Players to watch: Lewandowski to keep on scoring?
Barcelona’s Robert Lewandsowi is putting up some ridiculous scoring records this season. The 36-year-old has scored fourteen in La Liga already and is running away in the top scorer race for the Spanish top flight. Even more impressive is that of his 14 league goals, nine of them have been scored in away matches.
Look for Raphinha as well, who continues to have an impressive run of form in front of goal for Barca. He’s had a new lease of life in front of goal, well on course for a double-figure haul in the top flight this season. It wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see both Lewandowski and Raphinha threatening a goal. Barcelona are just prolific going forward, averaging 3.3 goals per game. Real Sociedad’s top scorer in the league this campaign is Takefusa Kubo with three.
Predicted Lineups
Barcelona will wait on a late fitness test for defender Pau Cubarsi who got a face cut during Champions League action. Barca have quite a long injury list that includes Eric Garica, Ronald Araujo, Andreas Christensen and Marc-Andre ter Stegen. Real Sociedad have a pile of injuries as well with Nayef Aguerd, Ander Barrenetxea and Pablo Marin among those sidelined.
Real Sociedad: Remiro; Aramburu, Zubeldia, Elustondo, J Lopez; Mendez, Zubimendi, Sucic; Kubo, Oyarzabal, Gomez
Barcelona: Pena; Kounde, Cubarsi, I Martinez, Balde; De Jong, Pedri; Yamal, Olmo, Raphinha; Lewandowski
Anything else catches the eye?
It’s been an almost faultless La Liga campaign by Barcelona who are W11 L1 this season. Their one slip up came last September away at Osasuna. Since then, they have won four matches on the bounce, scoring at least three goals in each of those, including a thumping 4-0 win in El Clásico over Real Madrid.
Barca go into this game after scoring five in midweek Champions League action against Red Star Belgrade, too. Head coach Hansi Flick has turned them into a formidable attacking unit that has scored at least two goals in every La Liga away game played this season.
Real Sociedad are in mid-table with a W 4 D3 L5 record under their belt. Their big struggles have come against teams currently above them in the table, going D1 L4 in such fixtures. On home turf they have collected just one win this season, which was against bottom-side Valencia. They look as if they will have big troubles keeping Barca quiet on the weekend.
This La Liga match between Real and Barcelona will be played on Nov 10, 2024 and kick off at 20:00. Check below for our tipsters best Real vs Barcelona prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
