Saturday:
Real Betis vs Barcelona
Deportivo vs Osasuna
Valencia vs Malaga
Sunday:
Almeria vs Valladolid
Athletic vs Recreativo
Sporting vs Real Madrid
Racing vs Villarreal
Numancia vs Mallorca
Espanyol vs Sevilla
Atletico Madrid vs Getafe
With Barcelona and Real Madrid safely ensconced in the top two positions, the race for the other two champions league spots has become the main focus of attention, with several sides in the mix and in varying degrees of form. On Saturday, Unai Emery’s Valencia – who are once again hitting the headlines for their financial woes, having only part-paid their squad for the month of January – welcome Malaga to the Mestalla. Antonio Tapia’s men are a well-organised, free-scoring outfit who showed true character to come from two goals down to defeat Almeria last weekend. They’ve also lost just once in their last 8 games, a run of results which means only two points and three league positions separate them in seventh from Valencia in fourth. Lose Che, meanwhile, have been dumped out of the Copa Del Rey and have lost 4 out of 6 in all competitions, including last weekend’s loss at Osasuna. Despite having a good home record, this should be a close encounter and is my game of the week.
Elsewhere on Saturday, Barcelona visit Real Betis who have been enjoying a week of understandable elation following their derby win at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan. However, they’ll need to get their act together for the Verdiblancos have the worst home record in La Liga, and they’ll be playing the team with the best. It should be fairly routine for Guardiola’s men, even with many of the squad backing up from midweek international duty. Completing Saturday’s line-up is Osasuna’s visit to the Riazor. Camacho’s men are in good nick and have dragged themselves out of the bottom three while Depor have suffered recently against the bigger sides. Osasuna, though, are the only side in the division without an away win and you’d think they’re unlikely to beat that in Galicia, a traditionally tough place for visiting sides.
On Sunday, Real Madrid visit Sporting Gijon, a real Jekyll-and-hyde team who are still without a league draw this season. Under Ramos, El Real play a solid, if rather functional, game which isn’t winning fans in the media but is proving undeniably effective in picking up points. Raul will have another chance to break Di Stefano’s record and this could very well be where he does so. Villarreal, who are proving impossible to predict having picked up 8 points from a possible 18 since the turn of the year, visit a Racing side who in the last two outings have been the victims of narrow defeats against the top two, although their away form far outstrips their record at El Sardinero. Athletic, who suffered a setback in their UEFA Cup ambitions last week at Valladolid, are six points off the final European spot but will fancy their chances of gaining ground at home against a Recre side who, after three wins in January, are still looking nervously down the table.Sevilla, arguably the league’s most scrutinized side due to their poor form, visit Espanyol in what is a must-win game for Manolo Jiminez if he has any ambitions to keep his job. The hosts are in trouble too, without a win in 13 matches. It promises to be an unpretty encounter at the Montjuic. Atletico host Getafe in what you might call the ‘other’ Madrid derby.
Abel Resino started his tenure with a bang last week and, although Getafe are no mugs, you’d expect a newly revitalized strike partnership of Aguero/Forlan to be too much for Victor Munoz’s men. The league’s bottom side, Mallorca, visit Numancia in what is a must-win game for both sides and Almeria, still smarting from last week’s events, host a buoyant Valladolid. Hugo Sanchez has had a mixed start to his Almeria career and his side are only four points above the drop zone – he can’t keep relying on Uche and Negredo to score his team out of trouble.
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