Is Barcelona Ready to Face February's Challenge?

Following the 2-1 defeat against Arsenal, Barcelona Coach, Pep Guardiola would have by now recovered from the trauma to prepare the Blaugrana’s against Atletic Bilbao when the latter visits Camp Nou on Sunday.

February has been an intense month for Barcelona. First, they connected their 16th consecutive victory in La Liga, creating a new record in the Spanish League. However things started going awry for Guardiola's boys in their last two away matches’ against Sporting when they failed to collect three points and fell against Arsenal 2-1.

Barcelona still has a busy schedule ahead, as they will have to visit Valencia and Sevilla in the weeks to come while hosting Arsenal at Camp Nou. So is Barcelona ready to face February's challenge keeping in mind their disastrous campaign in February 2010. They failed against Atletico 2-1 and tied a Champions League game against Stuttgart 1-1, which the Blaugrana’s would not like to repeat this year. However those games were a turning point for Barcelona, as they pick up 29 of the next 30 possible points.

At the moment, Barcelona is walking through thin ice as a strong pillar of its defense is flaking. Coupled up with Maxwell's poor form in the last few games and Puyol's absence due to a knee injury has been one of the few constants in Barcelona's four defeats so far this season.

But there are also numerous positive things to rescue from the last games: David Villa and Pedro are in sensational form, not to mention Lio Messi. In the last few games, Andres Iniesta and Pedro have been far more independent, creating plenty of scoring opportunities on their own. French international defender Eric Abidal has also done an outstanding work, forming a strong partnership with Gerard Pique in the back line. He'll also be invaluable in the next clash against Arsenal as Pique misses the game due to disciplinary action.

A step should be walked at a time, and now Barcelona has to focus on Athletic, visiting the Camp Nou tonight.