PREVIEW | Villarreal v FC Barcelona

Things have gone fantastically for FC Barcelona in La Liga so far. Five games and five wins, including a mightily impressive 4-1 trouncing of Girona in last week's derby. However, the team's buzzing morale took a dent when they were beaten 2-1 by Monaco in Thursday's Champions League debut, although that match was heavily conditioned by the loss of Eric García to a red card after just ten minutes.

Sunday at 6.30pm CEST (click here to find out what time that is in your part of the world) brings the third away fixture in a single week, and it's back to the domestic championship and a trip to Villarreal.

And this won't be an easy fixture. They may not be playing in Europe this season, but the 'Yellow Submarine' have started their campaign strongly with three wins, two draws and no defeats from their first five outings.

Head to head

If last season's meetings are anything to go by, we can expect a rollercoaster ride on Sunday! Although Barça took a 2-0 lead at the Estadio de la Cerámica, the home side battled back to lead 3-2. Goals from Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres eventually secured a dramatic 4-3 away win for the Catalans.

The return fixture at the Estadi Olimpic was a curiously similar affair, but the other way round. This time it was Villarreal who led 2-0 early on and Barça who fought back to lead 3-2, all three goals coming in the space of ten magical minutes. Inexplicably, Villarreal ended up winning 5-3, with the two last goals coming right at the end of ten minutes of extra time.

That was the second time in three years that Barça had lost at home to Villarreal, but their form at the Cerámica has been exemplary in recent years. There hasn't been a blaugrana defeat at the stadium for 15 years, and the last five visits have all ended in victories.

Team news

Barça's exceptional start to the start is all the more impressive considering the number of injuries that they've had to contend with. Gavi and Frenkie de Jong are both back training with the squad, but are not ready for this one.

Ronald Araujo and Andreas Christensen remain absent from the defence, and midfielders Marc Bernal, Dani Olmo and Fermín López are also out with injuries. To make matters worse, striker Ferran Torres is suspended after getting red carded in the final minutes of the game with Girona.

The good news is that Ansu Fati was finally able to make his return against Monaco. He only featured for the last few minutes of that one, and it will be interesting to see if he is is granted a bit more playing time on Sunday.

As for the visitors, Marcelino is without Juan Foyth and Gerard Moreno, and there are doubts concerning Willy Kambwala and Alfonso Pedraza. But Pape Gueye returns after sitting out the 2-1 win at Mallorca through suspension.

Hansi says

The FC Barcelona coach made it clear in his pre-game press conference that he wants to put the Monaco defeat behind them as quickly as possible. "We have to keep working with the same logic and passion" he said. "This will be a difficult game against the third highest-scoring team in the league. But our good results until now are enough to encourage me to keep believing. All the players know what positions to occupy and what areas to cover. When they connect well, they play great football."

"But we need to be careful with players who are overloaded with games. It is good to have other players who are fresh and able to play." Flick also mentioned the importance of Pedri and Marc Casadó, who didn't train on Saturday, being at 100%.