For the third season in succession, Valencia travel up to the Camp Nou in decent shape and looking for some answers about just how good they are. On the previous two occasions, they returned defeated and deflated.

Barcelona v Valencia
For the third season in succession, Valencia travel up to the Camp Nou in decent shape and looking for some answers about just how good they are. On the previous two occasions, they returned defeated and deflated.
In December 2008, Los Che were humbled 4-0 and could have no complaints. Back in March of this year though, they were beaten 3-0 but gave a much better account of themselves, the difference being the brilliance of Lionel Messi.
In a contest Valencia shaded for almost an hour, the mercurial Argentinean bagged a sublime hat-trick after targeting Angel Dealbert as the obvious weak link in the visitors' rearguard.
Now Los Che return with such greater strength in depth that Dealbert will struggle to make the bench, in spite of concerns about the fitness of Miguel and Hedwiges Maduro. That said, they will also return without David Villa who will now line up against them for the first time as a Barca player.
To assume the champions will stretch their superiority over Valencia by virtue of having taken their best player in the summer is to misunderstand the situation. Of course, El Guaje will provide a new threat for his former colleagues to cope with but now, in his absence, they are slightly better equipped to cope as a defensive unit for this kind of challenge.
With this in mind, the prices are probably about right. Those who fancy a nibble at the 8/1 on the away win should be aware that Valencia didn't take a single point on the road against any of the top seven last season.

Malaga v Real Madrid
Just when Jose Mourinho needed an emphatic result to ease growing tensions between himself and the Madrid-based media, he delivered with a 6-1 demolition of sorry Deportivo at the Santiago Bernabeu a fortnight ago.
It was the perfect riposte to criticism of his decision to take training behind closed doors and deny the local hacks access to player interviews.
Now the Portuguese coach appears to be gradually getting to grips with the role and we should expect the Merengues to encounter fewer and fewer hiccups as the season progresses.
Goalless draws at Mallorca and Levante were a source of some embarrassment but Mourinho will be comforted by the fact Barcelona have dropped an extra point amid much less hysteria.
If a clean sheet is the prerequisite to take anything off Madrid then it's hard to imagine Malaga stopping the challengers in their tracks at La Rosaleda on Saturday.
The Boquerones have counter-attacked with great energy on the road but they struggle to impose themselves on home soil and seem to lack the defensive discipline to stifle the match-winning quality in the visitors' ranks.
With other irons in the fire, we'll turn our nose up at the various markets available in this game. Save to say, we expect Madrid to win, probably with a clean sheet.

Athletic Bilbao v Real Zaragoza
If you asked Joaquin Caparros and Jose Aurelio Gay to summarise their season so far, both managers would probably admit to being a tad disappointed with results but only one could have complaints with performances.
Athletic Bilbao have lived up to their billing as top-six candidates when coming up against opposition outside of that bracket but it's the standards they fail to reach against teams they aspire to rub shoulders with that might ultimately cost them a return to the European stage next season.
In three games against Hercules, Sporting and Mallorca, they've secured a comfortable seven points, which includes coming back from two goals down to rescue a point against at El Molinón in Week 3 but three tough tests against Atletico Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia have yielded nothing.
All of which paints a pretty vivid picture and the Basques look solid value at 10/11 to account for Real Zaragoza at San Mames on Sunday evening.
Like Athletic, the Blanquillos have also experienced the exhilaration of coming from two goals down to claim a point against Sporting - albeit on home soil in their case - but that's been the only real highlight of a campaign that seems destined to end in the dismissal of Gay at some point.
Besides that glimmer of hope at La Romareda a fortnight ago, the Aragon club have failed to find the net in four of their previous five matches, the exception being the three-goal face-saving exercise against Malaga having fell five goals behind inside 45 minutes.
So we see nothing in the evidence so far to suggest much will change from last term when Athleticwon 11 of their 19 home matches and Zaragoza lost 11 of their 19 away, all of which points towards value in the price.

Sporting Gijon v Sevilla
There are two general schools of thought about Sevilla's amazing transformation from mediocre misfits into world-beaters after a week under the tuition of Gregorio Manzano.
On the one hand, there's the back-slapping, awe-struck perspective of those who wish wax lyrical about the immediate impact made by one of Spanish football's most intelligent and respected managers.
On the other hand, there's the tutting disapproval of those who see straight through a shallow group of players who defrauded the Sanchez Pizjuan crowd for six months by downing tools to oust a manager they clearly didn't want in the first place.
In reality, there's an element of truth to both theories but the one thing that seems abundantly clear is that Sevilla are back and ready to mount a serious challenge for the Champions League places.
Given the outrageous contrast in energy and enthusiasm between their victory over Atletico Madrid last weekend and what occurred under Antonio Alvarez before, it's incredible to think the Andalusians are sitting pretty in fifth spot just five points off the top.
Nonetheless, it's a situation we can take full advantage of by backing Sevilla to win the Primera Liga without Barcelona and Real Madrid at 7/2 with bet365. With eight points already invested on Valencia to finish in the top four at 9/4 (now 8/11), we can view this bet as a saver of sorts but the possibility of landing both is a distinct one.
This weekend, Manzano takes his troops to Asturia and it will be interesting to see how he approaches the game with the visitors having developed an all-or-nothing approach on the road in recent times.
You have to go all the way back to May 2009 for the last time Sevilla played out a stalemate on their Primera travels, a run that stretches back 24 matches and though we should expect them to claim the spoils at El Molinón, odds of 6/5 aren't quite big enough in this instance. Manuel Preciado's men are no mugs on home soil.


Best of the rest:
The fixture computer hasn't been too kind to Atletico Madrid so far but punters can make light of the situation by backing them to take care of Getafe at the Vicente Calderon in the early game on Saturday.
As if providing the opposition for a Barcelona backlash after the Hercules defeat and then travelling to leaders Valencia four days later wasn't bad enough, the Colchoneros walked into the path of an oncoming train for the first league game of the Gregorio Manzano era at Sevilla last time out.
Needless to say, they were duly dispatched by the rejuvenated Andalusians leaving them with a total of one point from the three big clashes - a very creditable one at Mestalla as well, it must be said. So we shouldn't change our overall perception of Atletico as a team that will be punching its weight towards the top of the division come the end of the season.
Besides those momentous tasks, the Europa League holders have collected maximum points with minimal fuss and they are surely over-priced to put away their local neighbours from the suburbs at 4/5.
Getafe's record of three wins and a draw from six matches isn't one to be sniffed at but it should be noted that two of those victories came against newly-promoted opposition on home soil, while the other was a smash-and-grab raid against a Racing side that would have been relegated last season on the basis of their home record.
In terms of difficulty, this will be a mission like nothing they have faced since losing the mercurial talents of Pedro Leon and physical presence of target man Roberto Soldado in the summer and we should expect that void of quality to be clinically exposed.

PICKS:
Atletico Madrid to beat Getafe at 1.80 at Bet365
Athletic Bilbao to beat Real Zaragoza at 1.80 at Betsson
Sevilla to win the Primera Liga w/out Barcelona & Real Madrid at 4.50 at Bet365