Despite Sevilla’s recent upturn in form, it has to be kept in mind that the three wins in four games mentioned above were all secured at home and were secured against Getafe, Cádiz and Elche, the three sides currently inside the relegation zone. So, it’s a reach to state that Sevilla have turned the page.

This will be a proper test for Sevilla and one they’ve failed even when they were having better seasons. They are historically terrible at the Camp Nou and haven’t won there in the league since December of 2002, more than two decades ago. Since then, it has been 16 Barça wins and three draws in 19 visits and this current Barcelona side are in great form, with everyone available and in good form besides the injured Ousmane Dembélé.

One of the many Barcelona players who is in great form is Marc-André ter Stegen. We’re now at the halfway stage of the LaLiga season and he has conceded just seven goals in 19 games. The most recent, conceded during the midweek win at Real Betis, was an absurd own goal that had nothing to do with the German goalkeeper, so it’s hard to imagine that Sevilla will get past him on the road, as they’re the eighth-lowest scorers in the division with just 21 goals so far.

Barcelona have become especially good at winning to nil this season and this has been key to their rise to the top of the table. They’ve won to nil on 13 occasions in 19 games, including three times already in 2023. Xavi isn’t afraid to get defensive when necessary, even finishing last weekend’s 1-0 win at Girona without any forwards left on the pitch. If the margin of victory against Sevilla is narrow late on in this one, Barça know how to bolt the door shut.

In terms of who’ll score the goals for Barcelona, we have to look at none other than Robert Lewandowski. Back from his three-game suspension, he immediately returned to the scoresheet by netting what proved to be the winner in the 2-1 victory over Real Betis midweek. He is the top scorer in LaLiga with 14 goals in 16 games and Barcelona will look to him even more given the absence of his normal strike partner Dembélé.

The Polish striker is averaging 2.17 shots on target per 90 minutes this season, the best record in the competition, and should be licking his lips at the prospect of facing a poor Sevilla back line, one whose members change virtually every single week.

This season has been a difficult one for Sevilla, but the one area in which they have led LaLiga has been in the number of cards collected. They sit second in the league table with 61 yellow cards and a league-high of seven red cards.

Barcelona have seen more yellow cards than their opponents in a LaLiga fixture at Camp Nou just once this season, meaning that Sevilla players will be treading a fine line. Leading the way in terms of players likely to be chatting to the referee is forward Erik Lamela on eight yellow cards and one red card, and he is available to be shown a card at odds of 2.8.

The appointment of José María Sánchez Martínez is not good news for the away team either, given that they have won just one of the last six matches they have played with him as referee. He showed Sevilla five yellow cards on the sole occasion he has refereed them this season and has shown them an average of 2.86 yellow cards per 90 throughout his career.

In fact, Sánchez Martínez took charge of this exact fixture in a Copa del Rey semi-final second leg in 2021, when he sent off two Sevilla players and showed them four yellow cards.