Title Contenders Go Head-To-Head
Valencia's trip to the Santiago Bernabeu this weekend could determine where the Spanish championship ends up in June.
Valencia's trip to the Santiago Bernabeu this weekend could determine where the Spanish championship ends up in June.
That may seem hard on Real Sociedad, but Real Madrid are finally clicking into gear and Rafa Benitez's side is looking strong enough to last the pace.
Last season's domestic champions take on the reigning Champions League holders in the titanic clash and defeat for either would deliver a blow to their title hopes.
Vicente Del Bosque will be preying that his team has recovered from Thursday's 3-0 drubbing of Sevilla, after Madrid were forced to play the postponed fixture during the winter break.
Valencia will no doubt look to force a stalemate as their solid defence sets out to stop the incredible attacking line-up they will face.
Santi Canizares is still doubtful for the clash after injuring his knee before Christmas, but Andres Palop has proved to be a superb deputy in his absence.
Real Sociedad though will be confident that they can maintain their healthy lead at the top as they play host to Malaga.
The Basque Country outfit were the only unbeaten team in La Liga in the first half of the season and went into Christmas with the best record in Europe.
Raynald Denoueix has transformed their fortunes and has made the Anoeta into a fortress. La Real have only droped four points at there this term.
Malaga will be up against it, having won only once on their travels and that was on the opening day at Recreativo.
Deportivo La Coruna will be hoping that home advantage will give them the edge over Celta when the two sides meet for the Galician derby at the Riazor.
Jabo Irureta's side have not lost in the league since mid-October, but have not been convincing either with five draws from their last nine outings.
Celta had the added drama of Alexander Mostovoi's late return from the Christmas break to increase the tension in the Vigo camp.
But they will buoyed by the fact that a victory would see them move four points clear of the provincial rivals and maintain their strong challenge for a Champions League place.
If Barcelona do not beat Recreativo then all hell will break loose at Camp Nou.
Labouring in tenth place, Louis Van Gaal's side will be walking on very thin ice for the first few games of the New Year.
Recre lie in last place in the table, but anything other than a convincing win for the Catalans will see a second attempt to secure enough signatures for a vote of no confidence against president Joan Gaspart begin in earnest.
The Andalucians have lost five of the seven away games and will be looking to contain a Barca side that will be looking to sweep them away.
After making a superb start to the season, Real Betis began to falter in the weeks leaing upto the Yuletide interlude and will be hoping to regain some momentum when they travel to Valladolid.
Three victories in their last five games have been tempered by two 1-0 defeats at Atletico and, more crucially, at home to lowly Rayo Vallecano.
The in the final game in December they only just overcame a battling Osasuna side in the Manuel Ruiz de Lopera in Seville.
Valladolid though have been very poor and are now facing a second half of the campaign battling against the drop.
Having scored only two goals in their last six league games it looks set to be a long, hard season for the Castillan outfit.
In the weekend's other games Osasuna will be looking to put some daylight between themselves and the bottom three as they entertain Rayo.
Athletic Bilbao travel to Racing Santander as Jupp Heynckes' men struggle to pull clear of a relegation dogfight.
Sevilla will look to recover from their defeat against Real Madrid when Mallorca arrive at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, while Javier Clemente will be lookng to chalk up his second victory in charge of Espanyol as they meet Alaves in Vitoria.