Spanish League: a view on upcoming round

The rich meet the poor this weekend in La Liga as Barcelona take on Alaves.

If Deportvo La Coruna slip-up, the winner of this one could even go top. This would be a staggering achievement for Jose Mane's Alaves who, having sold their two best players, were expected to be in the lower reaches of the table perhaps with a relegation battle on their hands.

With Cosmin Contra and Javi Moreno both sold to Milan as well as Ivan Tomic returning to Roma, one could have forgiven the Alaves fans for being pessimistic about the season ahead. However, the only thing the Basques must worry about now is whether they can qualify for Europe. This is something they'd dearly like to do after last year's UEFA Cup final defeat to Liverpool.

Barcelona travel to the Mendizorroza this weekend looking to get back on track after that surprise defeat to Athletic Bilbao.

It was a moment of genius from Santiago Esquerro that won the day for Jupp Heynckes side but it may prove a costly defeat for Barca come the end of the season.

Rivaldo's equaliser was superb but why was the Brazilian only on the bench? It's true that coach Charly Rexach likes to play Javier Saviola in all the home games and put him on the bench in the more physically demanding away days but surely this can't be at the expense of the Brazilian. Rexach may well have come to the conclusion that Kluivert, Saviola and Rivaldo cannot play together in which case one will have to sit out each match.

Perhaps it should be the Dutchman who sits out more often than not. If ever the term 'Jekyll and Hyde' could be used to describe a player it should be Kluivert. Sometimes he can be excellent, linking up the play between midfield and attack as well as finishing off the chances that come his way with aplomb while on other occasions he needs six chances just to score once and seems to be on a different wavelength from those around him.

Like many of Barca's away games this season, the match is likely to be tight with the draw the most likely outcome.

Real Madrid have a relatively simple looking task at home to Osasuna. Their last league game at the Bernebeu was a 2-1 win over Sevilla but it was more empathic than the scoreline suggests. Zinedine Zidane had his best game for the club so far while Fernando Morientes embarked on his goal-scoring streak that shows no signs of dwindling. Coach Vicente Del Bosque has now found the system that suits Zidane best. He played with two central defensive midfielders (Claude Makelele and Ivan Helguera) with Figo on the right and the French magician in a free role. In the new formation there is no-one on the left wing but the runs of Roberto Carlos more than make up for this. But how will Steve McManaman react to being on the bench more often than not?

Leaders Deportivo play Espanyol in what is an intriguing match at the Olympic Stadium. Their away form has deteriorated of late and it is now threatening to ruin any aspirations they had of winning the league. Yes they are still top and playing well both at home and in Europe but if last year's away performances return they have little chance of winning La Liga. They capitulated many times away from the Riazor last season and who could forget their meek performance against Leeds at Elland Road that resulted in a 3-0 defeat and a mountain too high to climb?

Signs of this were again evident last weekend as they were thrashed 4-1 at Mallorca. Coach Javier Irureta made a mistake by making nine changes from the team that beat Arsenal on the Wednesday. Irureta has changed his starting eleven many times this season and it caught up with him in this hiding.

Valencia play Mallorca this weekend looking to recover from their first loss of the season at Real Sociedad. That defeat must have been a real shock to the system but you have to say it was on the cards. They had drawn all of their away games up to that point which would indicate a lack of adventurousness. Perhaps now the defeat has come it will be a weight off their shoulders and they will be able to play a more entertaining, attacking kind of game.

The other highlights this weekend include Villarreal's trip to Celta Vigo and Athletic Bilbao's home match with Zaragoza.