Las Palmas 1-2 Barcelona

Neymar scores Barca's second after firing in a rebound from Lionel Messi's shot

Barcelona warmed up for their Champions League tie against Arsenal with a win over Las Palmas to extend their lead at the top of La Liga to nine points.

Luis Suarez scored his 25th league goal of the season early on after he was found by Jordi Alba at the back post.

But with Barca shaky in defence, Las Palmas equalised through Willian Jose after Jonathan Viera's clever flick.

Neymar got the eventual winner after tucking in a rebound following Lionel Messi's close-range shot.

After a testing encounter, Luis Enrique's side lead Atletico Madrid by nine points and Real Madrid by 10 points, with both teams in action on Sunday.

There will be plenty to encourage Arsenal as Las Palmas were able to test the Barca defence, although their threat was reduced once Viera went off with a second-half injury.

Were there weaknesses for Arsenal to exploit?

Luis Suarez was uncharacteristically wasteful but has 12 goals in his last seven games and 41 this season

The Gunners will be attempting to reach at Champions League quarter-finals for the first time since 2010, when they were beaten by Barca.

In 2011 they also lost a last-16 tie to the Catalan side and were beaten 2-1 by them in the 2006 final.

But they will have watched the win over Las Palmas with interest as Barcelona's three-man midfield gave little cover to their defence in a frantic opening period in Gran Canaria.

Enrique opted to rest Sergio Busquets, with Ivan Rakitic on the bench, and at times they missed their robustness in midfield.

Poor passing out of defence almost cost Barca on two or three occasions and they were saved by last-ditch defending by Javier Mascherano and substitute Thomas Vermaelen, who replaced midfielder Sergi Roberto after the break.

Despite their fragility in defence, Barca looked deadly on the counter-attack as Suarez, Messi and Neymar caused problems each time they combined.

Suarez, who is the first player in Europe's top five leagues to reach 25 goals, could have had a hat-trick after missing a close-range header in the first half and Las Palmas goalkeeper Javi Varas making a wonder save in the second half. Neymar also wasted a great chance late on as he bore down on goal.

The hosts, who were promoted to the top flight last season and are flirting with relegation, regained their impetus towards the end of the game and twice went close to an equaliser through substitute substitute Sergio Araujo.