Barcelona begin their La Liga title defence when Alaves comes to town for this fixture, and their fans would be expecting them to start their season with three points.
The Catalans won the league title by 14 points last season, but this season should be a lot tougher with renewed competition from Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid.
Apart from Andres Iniesta, there has been no major departures from Camp Nou. Philippe Coutinho is expected to perform even better than he did last season now that he is with them from the beginning, while Ousmane Dembele who scored a stunner in the Super Cup win over Sevilla is expected to also shine having struggled with injuries last season.
Alaves were expected to be relegated by the time December came around last season. At that point, they had already fired two managers, however, Abelardo Fernández took charge and helped them surprisingly avoid relegation in an unexpectedly easy manner.
That survival now means more would be demanded from them this season, and this game offers them the chance to start the season as they wish to go on. They would be looking to sit back and hit Barca on the break in this game, and the Catalans have shown that teams who play that way can get results from them.
