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As it stands, Barcelona are second in La Liga, one point behind leaders and rivals Real Madrid. The team has a perfect away record, but the home matches have been a nightmare so far. Two narrow wins, a draw against Mallorca and a shocking 2-0 defeat at the hands of Hercules. To put it in perspective, Barcelona had only lost 2 points at home last season. If the blaugrana wish to three-peat, they must find their home form and fast.
Tomorrow, the catalans will face a very worthy Sevilla side, one of the best teams in the league. In the past two seasons, Sevilla lost both league matches at Camp Nou 4-0 and, in this year's Super Cup, they were defeated by the same scoreline. However, that is not the whole story, far from it. Up to this point, Guardiola has been involved in 10 competitions as a manager and he has won eight of them. One of the two he lost was the Copa del Rey 2009/2010, precisely against Sevilla, who won 2-1 at Camp Nou in the first leg of the tie in a match where Guardiola didn't field his strongest squad.
Tomorrow, though, there's no time for games. Dropping any more points at home can seriously hurt Barcelona's three-peat hopes. A win, on the other hand, will keep Barcelona in the title track and might even see the culés take first place in La Liga, should Real Madrid drop points at Hercules.
With Xavi back and Messi firing on all cylinders, Barcelona must be considered clear favorites for this match, which will also be a good opportunity for David Villa to break his goal drought.
After the usual starters rested against Ceuta and gave the youngsters an opportunity (which they took brilliantantly), Guardiola should field a full-strength squad tomorrow: Valdés; Abidal, Puyol, Piqué and Daniel Alves; Busquets, Xavi and Iniesta; Pedro, Messi and Villa.
Sevilla has a great team, led by stars Luis Fabiano, Kanouté and Jesus Navas, and only by playing their best football can Barcelona win this match. It's up to the players to raise to the occasion, like they always have for the past two seasons.