Vilarreal (Spain), Jan 17 (IANS): Villarreal were unable to tighten their grip on fourth place in the La Liga as they were held to a 0-0 draw by Real Betis.

Betis travelled to the El Madrigal Stadium on Saturday without a win since November and after sacking coach Pepe Mel in midweek but proved to be a match for their hosts, both in terms of possession and chances, reports Xinhua.

Indeed Villarreal keeper, Alphonse Areola, was the busier of the two keepers as he produced good saves to deny Ruben Castro and Foued Kadir, while Antonio Adan in the Betis goal had little to do in terms of stopping shots on goal.

Kevin Gameiro scored in the 40th and 42nd minute of Sevilla's derby at home to Malaga to put them 2-0 ahead against a rival that hadn't lost in seven matches.

Charles got Malaga back into things in the 72nd minute but Sevilla were able to hold on in order to continue their climb up the table.

Also on Saturday, Celta Vigo got back to winning ways in an entertaining game at home to bottom of the table Levante, which ended 4-3.

Celta looked to be cruising to an easy win as two first half goals from John Guidetti and a 57th minute goal from Iago Aspes put them 3-0 ahead. But rapid fire goals from Deyverson and Pedro Lopez got Levante right back into the mix before Fabian Orellana appeared to seal the win for Celta with their fourth goal in the 85th minute.

Jose Luis Morales then scored Levante's third in the 89th minute to leave home fans to look nervously as the clock ran down.