The midweek round of La Liga games kicked off on Tuesday night with Seville beating Sporting and Mallorca taking the points at Espanyol – just 24 hours after Malaga had beaten Almeria in the last game of week 25 action, a result that lifts Pellegrini’s team off the bottom and dumps Almeria there.

Pellegrini back at Bernabeu

Manuel Pellegrini returns to the Bernabeu on Thursday with his Malaga team boosted by their 3-1 win over Almeria on Monday and looking to spring a surprise on Real Madrid and add further misery following their slip up in La Coruña. With Valencia up against Barça, Villarreal need to get points at home to Hercules to close the gap on Emery’s team, who are currently four points ahead of them.

Espanyol lose at home

Espanyol missed the chance to put pressure on Villarreal when they lost 1-2 to Mallorca, who missed an early penalty and were soon one down to an Alvaro strike, but came back to take the points in the second half thanks to goals from Webo and Nsue. Pochettino’s team could be back in sixth on Wednesday night if Bilbao can win at Zaragoza. Behind the Basques, Seville are threatening following their 3-0 defeat of Sporting on Tuesday. Whilst all around them sides have faltered, Seville have managed to put together a half decent run over the last six games - two wins, three draws and one defeat, 9 out of a possible 18 points, and the win over Sporting, who played with 10 men for over an hour, puts them momentarily level on points with Bilbao.

Tight at the foot of the table

Atletico Madrid and Real Sociedad both need wins to keep in touch with Seville and the Basques face in-form Levant at Anoeta, whilst Atletico play in a derby game at neighbours Getafe. Things are tight at the foot of the table and Sporting’s defeat could see them drop into the bottom three if Zaragoza or Malaga can get a win, whilst Osasuna and Deportivo meet in a six-pointer in Pamplona and Almeria will have to get something from the visit of Racing on Thursday if they are not to lose touch with the other eight teams in the relegation battle.