Barcelona will be aiming at extending their league lead to eight points when they face Betis at the Estadio Benito Villamain tonight. The Catalan giants beat Girona 1-0 last time out while Betis defeated Getafe with a similar scoreline in their last La Liga match. The slender victory, however, marked the return of Real Betis to winning ways after they had lost three matches in a row in all competitions although two of them was on penalties in local cup competitions. Manuel Pellegrini's men have only won three of their last nine La Liga fixtures but are currently sixth on the table which is just three points behind Atletico Madrid who are fourth thus they are very much still in contention to qualify for next season's Champions League. 

Betis will head into tonight's fixture seeking to revenge on Barcelona who beat them 4-2 on penalties in the Spanish super cup semis just over a fortnight ago following a 2-2 draw after 120 minutes of play. They, however, do not have a good record on the Catalan Giants as they have lost seven of their last eight meetings with their only victory coming back in 2021 in a 1-0 away win. 

The Catalan giants are undefeated in any competition since late October when they lost 3-0 to Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League and will be looking to extend their run tonight when they travel to Estadio Benito Villamain. Xavi's side have, however, in their last three games against Getafe, Real Sociedad, and Girona respectively come out with a slender victory of 1-0. Barcelona have now moved five points clear at the top of the La Liga table after their arch-rivals Real Madrid dropped points at home to Real Sociedad in a game that ended at a stalemate. 

One significant factor behind the success of Barcelona this season has been their improvement in defence keeping 14 clean sheets out of 18 games so far this season and conceding only six goals. It is worth noting that three of these goals were conceded to Real Madrid in El Clasico in mid-October. The Catalan giants have won 8 of their last 10 away visits to Betis and they will be confident of securing 3 points tonight or a draw at worst.