Following their classification for the last eight of the Champions League, Real Madrid travel across the city to the Vicente Calderon to face Atletico and keep up their chase of Barça. Third place Valencia have a tricky game against Seville at the Mestalla and Villarreal travel to Bilbao to face an Athletic team who are gunning for their fourth place spot. Llevant and Osasuna will be looking to maintain their recent decent form and confirm they are out of the relegation dog fight when they go to Deportivo and Hercules respectively, whilst 17th and 18th meet in Gijon when Almeria visit Sporting.

Madrid Derby

It’s been 11 years since Atletico managed to win a Madrid derby, but on Saturday they can put out a full strength team to face a Real team who have Cristiano Ronaldo as their only doubt. The hosts are unbeaten in five games, though they have only managed one win in their last four home games and when the two met in the Cup in January, Real won 0-1 in the quarter finals. Valencia are a distant third behind Real Madrid and after last week’s fiasco in Zaragoza they will have to lift their game when they entertain Seville, lying eighth and without a win on the road since early January, but lifted by their draw with Barça.

Bilbao gunning for Villarreal’s fourth place

Villarreal are nine points clear of Bilbao in fourth place, but after an alarming dip in league form and with games against Barça, Valencia and Seville coming up, they will need to take something from San Mames if they are to stay favourites for the last Champions League spot and fight off the challenge form the ambitious Basques. Sandwiched between the two, a point ahead of Bilbao, are Espanyol, who travel to bottom club Malaga with yet more injury worries. Forlin is out after his injury last week, Callejon is suspended and Javi Marquez and Duscher are also set to miss out. Espanyol have lost their last three games on the road, whilst Malaga have the worst home record in the league, with three wins, two draws and eight defeats.

Big games at the foot of the table

Hercules and Almeria are level on points with Malaga and face what could be decisive games on Sunday. Hercules are at home to Osasuna, who although they have only won once away all season, have made a big improvement of late and will be looking for the three points to lift them into mid-table safety. Hercules have won just twice since Christmas and although Drenthe and Valdez are back, Tote has been ruled out for the rest of the season. Almeria go to Gijon to face Sporting who are just three points above them in 17th, but have gone five games at home without defeat – including a draw with Barça. Llevant are in fact only three more points above Sporting, but with a run of games against Deportivo, Malaga, Racing and Hercules, they will hope to start with a win in La Coruña to maintain their recent good run, whilst the league’s lowest scorers Deportivo are themselves only a point behind Llevant and have lost just once at home since Christmas –against Barça.