Saturday January 31
19:00 Athletic Bilbao v Málaga
21:00 C.D Numancia v Real Madrid
Sunday February 1
16:00 Atletico Madrid v Valladolid
16:00 Espanyol v Recreativo Huelva
16:00 Real Betis Balompié v Getafe C.F
16:00 Racing Santander v Barcelona
16:00 Deportivo La Coruna v Villarreal
16:00 Osasuna v Mallorca
18:00 Valencia v Almeria
20:00 Sporting de Gijón v Sevilla
On Saturday Real Madrid, who have been winning of late without playing particularly well, visit Soria to play a Numancia side who are hanging precariously above the drop zone following recent results and are in the middle of the run of fixtures against the top sides. Nevertheless, Real have won six straight league fixtures under Ramos and you would expect this to be a fairly routine victory for Los Merengues.
The first game of the weekend comes from the San Mames where Athletic, fresh from Copa Del Rey success, will look to break down a stubborn Malaga outfit who are unbeaten in six matches and are breathing right down the neck of Atletico in the final European spot. On Sunday, the embattled Javier Aguirre will watch his team play Valladolid. It could not be a better time to play Zortilla’s side, who have taken just one point from a possible 15 in the league. However, with Aguero and Forlan struggling for goals and looking familiarly brittle in defence, it could be a struggle.
Espanyol, who fought valiantly at the Camp Nou on Thursday, welcome Recreativo to the Montjuic in what has all the makings of being an ugly relegation dogfight. Pochettino is unbeaten in his short tenure with Los Pericos and I fancy they’ll grab an important 3 points, even though Recre won last time out against Betis. Speaking of Betis, Paco Chaparro is under pressure there and a defeat at home to Getafe could be the last straw. Betis have the worst home record in the league (5 defeats from 9 – woeful) so Getafe, fresh from their shellacking of Sporting last week, will fancy their chances.
Barcelona make the trip to Santander to play a Racing side who have looked full of confidence since the return of Nikola Zigic up front. Racing’s home form is poor, so Pep Guardiola will still be fairly confident his team can cruise unstoppably on. For Racing, a win, however unlikely, will strengthen their fight for UEFA cup place that looked out of the question in December. Manuel Pellegrini’s Villarreal, who continue to stumble, visit the Riazor to play a Deportivo side wounded from three straight league defeats. Mallorca, who pulled off the result of the week last time with their win over Valencia, visit Osasuna and Gregorio Manzano will be praying the form lasts so they could jump out of the bottom 3. Unai Emery will look to bounce back following league and cup disappointment with a win over Almeria, who have picked up just one away win this season. Finally, Sevilla visit Sporting Gijon which is a simply must-win fixture for Manolo Jiminez’s men if they wish to remain in the top four.
No comments:
Post a Comment