Madrid, Oct 30 (IANS): After the frantic activity of last weekend's Clasico between Real Madrid and Barcelona, the La Liga settles down for slightly more mundane activity this weekend, although the round of matches is made all the more interesting by the traffic jam at the top of the table.
Barcelona remain top of the table with 22 points despite last weekend's defeat, although Sevilla have drawn level on points while Real Madrid are just a point behind with Valencia and Atletico Madrid in striking distance, reports Xinhua.
Real Madrid - 21 points - kick the weekend off and Carlo Ancelotti's side will look for their 11th consecutive win in all competitions away to Granada who recently conceded six goals away to Barcelona.
Ancelotti rested key players for Wednesday night's Kings Cup win away to third tier Cornella and the only question mark is whether or not Gareth Bale can recover to replace Isco or James Rodriguez in the starting 11.
Barcelona coach Luis Enrique comes face-to-face with the last club he coached as Celta Vigo travel to Camp Nou. Celta promise open attacking football which should give Lionel Messi (who still needs two goals to set a new scoring record for La Liga), Luis Suarez and company space to operate but the big question to be answered is how Barcelona's defence will perform after a poor display at Bernabeu. Expect Jordi Alba back in the side at left back while Andres Iniesta is absent with a torn calf.
Cordoba are still looking for their first win of the season and it would be a major surprise if they find it at Vicente Calderon against an Atletico Madrid side that is once again climbing the table through hard work and their effectiveness from set pieces. It may not be pretty but Diego Simeone's side should bag all three points with ease.
Saturday's final game will almost certainly be Jagoba Arrasate's last in-charge of struggling Real Sociedad unless his side are able to defeat an in-form Malaga. Arrasate looks to have run out of credit and will be sacked unless 'La Real' can take a much-needed win.
Given they have a vital Champions League tie next Wednesday, Athletic Club Bilbao fans have every right to wonder why their side have to face high-flying Sevilla at midday Sunday rather than Saturday night, but that is the decision of the Spanish football league and Ernesto Valverde's men will look to continue their slight improvement against a side high on confidence after a 6-1 Cup win in Sabadell Wednesday.
Sunday also sees Valencia (20 points) travel to Villarreal for what promises to be an entertaining local derby and a good test of Valencia's early season form. Levante will look to climb off the bottom of the table with a game at home to Almeria while Elche also need points to get out of the bottom three at home to mid-table Espanyol.
Finally, the round of matches ends Monday when Eibar face Rayo Vallecano in a game between the two sides with the lowest budgets in the competition.