29.01.2011 16:06

Spanish League Preview Week 21

Nick Bedson

With Barça the only team in the top seven playing on Saturday, Guardiola’s side again have the opportunity to pile on the pressure if they can take the points against Hercules.

Of the other top teams, Madrid travel to Pamplona, whilst Villarreal and Espanyol meet in Cornella, sixth and seventh placed Atletico Madrid and Athletic Bilbao clash at the Vicente Calderon and Valencia play in Santander on Monday. At the bottom, Llevant are at home to Getafe, Almeria are in Donosti and Malaga entertain Zaragoza.

Rossi stays and Ruiz and Vila leave

There were contrasting images at Villarreal and Espanyol this week, as Giusepe Rossi signed a new deal to keep him at El Madrigal until 2016 whilst Espanyol sold Victor Ruiz to Naples and Didac Vila to Milan to cash in on the winter transfer window. Espanyol are just five points adrift of Villarreal and with only one defeat at home so far this season, against Barça, they will be looking to cut that gap with a win at Cornella when the two meet on Sunday evening. Espanyol have won their last three La Liga games, scoring 9 goals, whilst Villarreal have won their last two following defeat to Madrid and bagged 8 in those three games, so a goalless draw is hopefully not on the cards on Sunday.

Valencia hope to stretch winning run

Sandwiched between the two, three ahead of Espanyol and two behind Villarreal, are Valencia, who play on Monday night in Santander against Racing. Last week’s crazy win over Malaga was Valencia’s fifth league victory on the run, whilst Racing, who were recently bought by Indian businessman Ahsan Ali Sayed, haven’t won since mid-December. Asked about having to play again on Monday night, Racing boss Miguel Angel Portugal
claimed: “we’ve already played three or four times on a Monday –I guess there are interests more important than sporting ones involved and we just have to accept that”

Atletico Madrid look for consistency

If Espanyol, Valencia and Villarreal have shown great consistency over the last few games, Atletico Madrid, who come to the Nou Camp next weekend, represent the opposite, having won just once since Christmas, losing to Hercules and Sporting and drawing with Racing as well as being knocked out of the Cup by Real Madrid. With tough games against Barça, Valencia and Seville coming up, Quique Sanchez Flores’ team need a win on Sunday against Bilbao, two points ahead of them in sixth, if their hopes of a European spot are to stay intact. The Basques lost to Atletico at the San Mames earlier in the season, but have been beaten just once in their last eight games

Deportivo out to avoid defeat number six

Seville are just a point behind Atletico and will be aiming to bounce back from the disappointment of their midweek Cup defeat to Real Madrid with a win at Riazor, where Deportivo need a win after a run of five straight defeats. Gregorio Manzano will be without Jesus Navas, who has a stomach upset, and may rest players ahead of Wednesday’s second leg at the Bernabeu. Mallorca are a further two points behind Seville and after two defeats in Madrid over the last fortnight, they return to the Iberostar Stadium to face the improving Sporting Gijon. Getafe are level with Mallorca and also go into their game at Llevant on the back of two defeats – at home to Real Sociedad and Espanyol. After running up an eight game undefeated run at the end of 2010, Getafe have now gone five without a win, whilst bottom club Llevant have lost their last five games.

Malaga and Zaragoza

Llevant are two points behind Malaga who entertain a Zaragoza team who’ve won their last two games to climb up to 16th spot, whilst Almeria, level on points with Malaga, have the chance to forget last Wednesday’s thrashing at the Nou Camp when they visit Anoeta to face Real Sociedad, whose striker Joseba Llorente suffered a serious injury this week and may be out for some time.