Barcelona VS Almeria

Barcelona enter midweek without a win in three games, suffering setbacks at Girona and Real Antwerp in La Liga and the Champions League before drawing away to Valencia on Saturday. The Blaugrana looked set for victory when Joao Felix scored his third league goal, but Hugo Guillamon equalized in the 70th minute to put Barcelona's away winless record The record extends to four official games. With 3 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses in the past 7 league games, Barcelona's instability poses a challenge to their title defense. Xavi is third, seven points off the top of the table, and is under pressure to reverse that trend starting with Wednesday's game against bottom-placed Almeria.

Almeria face a serious challenge against the Championship side after a dismal first half of the season, which saw them fail to register a win in 17 league games. Led by Gazca Garitano, who took over from Vicente Moreno in October, Almeria picked up just their fifth point of the season in a goalless draw with Mallorca at the weekend. This is their second consecutive 0-0 draw at home, following their previous draw with Real Betis. Despite two consecutive clean sheets at home and improved defense, Almeria, which currently has the worst defensive record in La Liga, needs to start accumulating wins to close the eight-point gap to safety. After traveling to Catalonia, they were burdened with a dismal away record. Since the 1-1 draw with Cadiz at the end of August, they have lost all their last seven away league games.