Barça host struggling Alavés on Halloween night after two defeats

📰 After two defeats in a week, Barça look to bounce back against out-of-form Alavés at Camp Nou on Halloween night. 📌 Key points 🎃 Barça host Alavés at Camp Nou at 9pm on 31 October. 💔 Barça lost to PSG and Real Madrid last week. 📉 Alavés have taken two points from their last six games, the league's worst run. ⚠️ Alavés won the last meeting 1-0. 🎯 Alavés deliver more crosses than any side in LaLiga. 📝 What happened 💔 Barça lost away at PSG and then in the Clásico, suffering their first two defeats of the season in a single week, though they remain top. The squad returned to training at the Ciutat Esportiva on 28 October after two days off, joined by Barça Atlètic's Hamza, Campos and Tunkara. 📉 Alavés took 10 points from their first four games and briefly sat second. Since then they have taken just two points from 18 over six matchdays, the worst record in LaLiga in that spell, and are now seventh. ⚠️ Barça cannot be complacent. On matchday 36 last season, with the title already won, they lost 1-0 at Mendizorroza to a Diabaté goal. 🎯 Alavés lead the league with 157 crosses (206 including corners), a test for a Barça defence hit by injuries. 📊 By the numbers • Alavés in their last six games: 2 points from 18 • Alavés crosses: 157 (206 with corners), most in LaLiga • Last meeting: Alavés 1-0 win • Flick and Quique Sánchez Flores were born 19 days apart 👀 What to watch 🔄 Ending the slide — A side that won its first nine league games has now lost twice in a week. Can they reset straight away at home? 🛡️ Defending crosses — Against the league's most prolific crossing team, how will Barça's depleted back line cope? 🧓 Same-age coaches — Flick and Quique Sánchez Flores, both born in 1965, go head to head. Quique is coaching his fifth LaLiga club. 🔭 Why it matters With Atlético two points behind, dropping points here would put top spot at risk. Barça then face Aston Villa in the Champions League on 3 November and Atlético away on 8 November.