Barcelona v Leganes: La Liga betting preview, free football tip & where to watch

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for Barcelona v Leganes in La Liga on Tuesday.

Where to watch

LaLigaTV, 9pm Tuesday

Best bets

Barcelona to win 3-0
1pt 11-2 general

Barcelona to win 4-0
1pt 17-2 Paddy Power

Team news

Barcelona
Left-back Jordi Alba is suspended so Junior Firpo could start in defence along with Clement Lenglet, who returns from a ban. Ousmane Dembele is a long-term injury absentee.

Leganes
Dimitrios Siovas and Oscar Rodriguez serve one-match bans and Alexander Szymanowski (knee) remains sidelined.

Match preview

La Liga leaders Barcelona got back into their stride immediately in their first competitive fixture since March, taking the lead in the second minute of Saturday's 4-0 win in Mallorca.

Now they return to their Camp Nou fortress, where they have won 13 and drawn one of their 14 league games this term, and the omens look bleak for lowly visitors Leganes.

Barca's players appeared fit and sharp on their return to action and the suspension of the season gave Uruguayan forward Luis Suarez the opportunity to recover from his January knee surgery.

Suarez came off the bench for the final half-hour of Saturday's win in Palma and he could be reunited with Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann in the starting 11 on Tuesday, even though understudy Martin Braithwaite scored Barca's second goal against Mallorca.

Jordi Alba, another goalscorer at the weekend, serves a one-game ban but impressive French centre-back Clement Lenglet returns from suspension and the Barca backline can expect a quiet evening against toothless Leganes.

The relegation-threatened men from Madrid have scored only 22 goals in La Liga this season, just two fewer than Messi's personal tally, and they have found the net only eight times in 13 away trips.

With Messi, Griezmann and Suarez awaiting them at Camp Nou, there is a sense that Leganes are turning up to a gunfight armed only with a water-pistol so correct-score punters can narrow down their options by banking on a Barca clean sheet.

Leganes were unable to boost their survival chances in their weekend fixture, conceding a second-minute goal in a 2-1 home defeat to Valladolid, and they will travel to Catalonia more in hope than expectation.

While Barca's home record has been outstanding, with the only blip a goalless draw against title rivals Real Madrid, Leganes have won only once away from home this term.

They were tonked 5-0 by Real at the Bernabeu in October and should brace themselves for another wide-margin defeat at Barcelona.

Barca found clean sheets hard to come by at the start of the season but their 4-0 win over Mallorca was their third shutout in four games and the exception was a 2-0 loss at second-placed Real.

Given the authoritative way that Barcelona swept aside a Mallorca side who are decent on their own patch, and the weakness of the Leganes attacking unit, splitting stakes between a 3-0 and a 4-0 home victory could be the best punting strategy.

Key stat

Barcelona have taken 40 points from a possible 42 in their La Liga home games this season.

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