La Liga - Round 5 Preview

Saturday SEPTEMBER 24	KO	Sunday SEPTEMBER 25	KO
Sevilla - Valencia	1800	Mallorca - Real Sociedad	1200
Athletic Bilbao - Villarreal	1800	Levante - Espanyol	1600
Real Madrid - Rayo Vallecano	2000	Granada - Osasuna	1800
Barcelona - Atletico Madrid	2200	Sporting Gijon - Racing Santander	2000
		Zaragoza - Malaga	2200
		Monday SEPTEMBER 26	KO
all kick-offs in CET		Getafe - Betis	2100

Sevilla

vs

Valencia

PROBABLE LINE-UPS
Varas Caceres, Escude, Alexis, Navarro Trochowski, Medel Navas, Rakitic Kanoute, Negredo		Guaita Miguel, Rami, Victor Ruiz, Mathieu Banega, Tino Costa Pablo, Canales, Piatti Soldado
KEY FACTS
Sevilla, with two wins and two draws, are currently fifth, two points behind second-placed Valencia Sevilla are one of three Andalusian sides in the top six. Betis (first) and Malaga (third) are the others With his side at home, coach Marcelino Garcia Toral is set to revert to a two-man forward-line, with Frederic Kanoute back in the team		Valencia are one of five teams yet to be beaten in La Liga this season. Betis, Barcelona, Sevilla and Levante are the others Midfielder David Albelda is out after hurting his back in an awkward fall in the 2-2 draw at home to Barcelona on Wednesday night Jordi Alba is suspended after his red card in the same game

Athletic Bilbao

vs

Villarreal

PROBABLE LINE-UPS
Iraizoz Iraola, Amorebieta, San Jose, Marcos Gurpegi, Iturraspe Muniain, Martinez, Susaeta Llorente		Cesar Zapata, Gonzalo, Musacchio, Joan Oriol Marchena, Bruno De Guzman, Borja Valero, Cani  Rossi
KEY FACTS
Athletic Bilbao has yet to adapt to life under new coach Marcelo Bielsa, having picked up just one point from four games so far in the league Igor Martinez picked up an injury against Malaga on Wednesday and joins Ander Herrera on the sidelines Athletic have lost at home to Villarreal in four of the last five seasons		Villarreal's 2-0 win at home to Mallorca on Tuesday was the side's first win of the season The Yellow Submarine have won more games at San Mames (five) than they have lost (four) After the game against Athletic, Villarreal travel to Italy for an absorbing Champions League clash at Napoli next week

Real Madrid

vs

Rayo Vallecano

Jose Mourinho's side will look to return to winning ways after their shock defeat at Levante last weekend and a disappointing draw at Racing Santander on Wednesday night. A full preview of this fixture can be found here

Barcelona

vs

Atletico Madrid

Following an entertaining 2-2 draw at Valencia, Barcelona host in-form Atletico Madrid in the most attractive match of the weekend. A full preview of this fixture can be found here

Mallorca

vs

Real Sociedad

PROBABLE LINE-UPS
Aouate Zuiverloon, Chico, Ramis Caceres Victor, Pina Alfaro, Tejera, Nsue Tomer Hemed		Bravo C. Martinez, I. Martinez, Demidov, Bella Illarramendi, Mariga Prieto, Zurutuza, Vela Agirretxe
KEY FACTS
After beating Espanyol in their opening match, Mallorca have lost three league games in a row And the islanders' only goal this season came in the win over the Catalan club Coach Michael Laudrup is reportedly fighting to keep his job and could be replaced if his side fail to win this match. Coaches losing their jobs is 'part of football', says the Dane		Real Sociedad have enjoyed a positive start to the season, having picked up two wins and a draw from their first four games Daniel Estrada's winner against Granada looked more like a cross than a shot, but the midfielder claimed afterwards that it was a 'cross-shot' Xabi Prieto and David Zurutuza could return from injury in this match

Levante

vs

Espanyol

PROBABLE LINE-UPS
Munua Javi Venta, Ballesteros, Nano, Juanfran X. Torres, Iborra Valdo, Barkero, Juanlu Kone		Alvarez Galan, Moreno, Forlin, Didac Marquez, Baena, Verdu Thievy, Alvaro, Sergio Garcia
KEY FACTS
Levante have started the season in some style, picking up two wins and two draws in their opening four matches The Valencia-based side have beaten two teams from the capital: Rayo Vallecano and Real Madrid Levante have been accused of play-acting and theatrics by both Rayo boss Jose Ramon Sandoval and Madrid coach Jose Mourinho		Espanyol have won both of their home matches, but lost twice on the road so far this term The Barcelona-based side beat Getafe on Thursday thanks to a last-gasp winner from substitute Walter Pandiani Javi Lopez returns from suspension but Cameroon goalkeeper Carlos Kameni is likely to be left out again and could leave in January

Granada

vs

Osasuna

PROBABLE LINE-UPS
Roberto Nyom, Diakhate, Mainz, Siqueira Abel, Yebda Jara, Carlos Martins, Dani Benitez Uche		FernandezRaitala, Roversio, Flano, Bertran Lama, Punal, Raul Garcia Cejudo, Nino   Sola
KEY FACTS
Having beaten Villarreal last weekend, Granada lost their third game of the season as they narrowly went down to Real Sociedad in midweek The club launched their own television channel in Andalucia this week Striker Alex Geijo has recovered from injury and could face Osasuna		After losing 8-0 at Barcelona last weekend, Osasuna were denied what looked like a blatant penalty at home to Sevilla and had to settle for a goalless draw Osasuna have five points and the 8-0 loss remains the club's sole defeat this term Defender Roversio Rodrigues will be out for three weeks through injury

Sporting Gijon

vs

Racing Santander

PROBABLE LINE-UPS
Fernandez Lora, Botis, Soto, Canella Eguren, Alvarez Trojo, Castro, De Las Cuevas Barral		Tono Francis, Alvaro, Bernardo, Christian Tziolis, Diop Samperio, Ariel, Serrano Stuani
KEY FACTS
Sporting Gijon have lost all four of their league games so far this term and are the only side in the division yet to win a point This match, something of a northern derby clash, is a must-win for the Asturian side, although coach Manolo Preciado is hugely respected and not thought to be under threat just yet		Racing Santander lost 4-0 to Atletico Madrid last weekend but then held Real Madrid to a goalless draw at El Sardinero in midweek Defender Bernardo enjoyed a fine debut in that match Despite that result, Racing sit just above the drop zone with two points from their four games

Zaragoza

vs

Malaga

PROBABLE LINE-UPS
Roberto Silva, Lanzaro, Meira Juarez, Pinter, Ponzio, Abraham Barrera, Lafita Postiga		Willy Gamez, Demichelis, Mathijsen, Eliseu Toulalan, Duda Cazorla, Joaquin Van Nistelrooy, Baptista
KEY FACTS
Despite staging a late comeback, Zaragoza lost 4-3 to leaders Betis on Thursday night The Aragonese outfit also lost 6-0 to Real Madrid on the opening weekend, but have four points in all Adam Pinter was injured in the warm-up against Betis and is a doubt for this match		Malaga lost to Sevilla on the opening day, but have won three in a row since then to move up to third Summer signing Santi Cazorla has scored four times already this season, with three of those coming from free-kicks Malaga, then struggling as well, won this fixture 5-3 last season

Getafe

vs

Betis

PROBABLE LINE-UPS
Moya Torres, Lopo, Diaz, Masilela Pedro Leon, J. Rodriguez, Lacen, Sarabia Guiza, Miku		Casto Chica, Amaya, Dorado, Perez Etxebarria, Iriney Vadillo, Sevilla, Montero Santa Cruz
KEY FACTS
Getafe are second to bottom with a single point from four games The Madrid-based side lost out to a 91st-minute goal at Espanyol on Thursday night Diego Castro and Michel are available again for coach Luis Garcia, who is desperate for a first win of the season. "I have got out of a lot of worse situations than this," he said		Betis' 4-3 win over Zaragoza saw the Andalusian side go top of the Primera Division for the first time in almost exactly 10 years Betis won promotion in the summer and have impressed, winning all four of their games so far Goalkeeper Casto Espinosa is suspended and is set to be replaced by Fabricio in this match