Facebook with Latestnigeriannews  Twieet with latestnigeriannews  RSS Page Feed
Home  |  All Headlines  |  Punch  |  Thisday  |  Daily Sun  |  Vanguard   |  Guardian  |  The Nation  |  Daily Times  |  Daily Trust  |  Daily Independent
World  |  Sports  |  Technology  |  Entertainment  |  Business  |  Politics  |  Tribune  |  Leadership  |  National Mirror  |  BusinessDay  |  More Channels...

Viewing Mode:

Archive:

  1.     Tool Tips    
  2.    Collapsible   
  3.    Collapsed     
Click to view all Entertainment headlines today

Click to view all World headlines today

Ultimate Guide to La Liga Weekend: The Established Big 3 Order Is Back

Published by Bleacher Report on Fri, 30 Oct 2015


It has taken a quarter of a season, but the top of La Liga has a very familiar look about it once again: Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid occupy the first three positions with just two points separating them and a gap developing after the top five or so.Real, Barca and Atleti also boast the current best win streaks in La Liga, with a mighty record of back-to-back victories apiece. It certainly hasn't yet been a campaign in which any side has put together an amazing run of form despite playing well for stretches, and the early matchups between the teams at the top have seen plenty of back and forth in terms of controlling the 90 minutes and actually taking the points.Atletico lost to Barcelona, drew to Real and beat Sevilla and Valencia. The three points Barcelona took off Atleti were negated by losing heavily to Celta Vigo. Celta, in turn, were delighted with both that win and the late away victory over Villarreal but were beaten by Real Madridwho are the only remaining Liga side undefeated.Even Real's form has taken a silly hit or two, though, with frustrating draws against Malaga and Sporting Gijonbeing registered.With El Clasico coming up on Nov. 21, neither of the teams involved will want to lose ground at the top in the meantime.Atleti, meanwhile, will simply want to keep stringing together performances and wins to be ready and in place to capitalise on any slip ups in El Clasico.The start of the season has been intriguing, exciting, insightful and in part revelatoryon and off the field in some casesbut now is when we might start toreally see the league take shape.Early-season stutters have been shaken off, a number of stars, including James Rodriguez and Andres Iniesta,are close to returns from injury and everybody has had a thorough opportunity to scout and report back on everyone else. From here on in, every game can reasonably be seen as important in the title fight, not just for points but for confidence, belief, direction of the team and style of play.In isolation, no three points won or lost matters a huge amount, but the mentality of players, availability of key names and how the coaches react to different in-game scenarios can tell an awful lot.It is very much a three-way fight in La Liga this season, and even the battle for fourth will be no less interesting.Over to you, Senors Benitez, Enrique andSimeone.Jornada 10FridayDeportivo La Coruna vs. Atletico MadridSaturdayReal Madrid vs. Las PalmasVillarreal vs. SevillaValencia vs. LevanteGetafe vs. BarcelonaReal Sociedad vs. Celta VigoSundayEibar vs. Rayo VallecanoEspanyol vs. GranadaSporting Gijon vs. MalagaReal Betis vs. Athletic ClubWhat to Watch out for This WeekPart 1: Athletic's Most Complete XI'Athletic Bilbao struggled initially this season but have put together an impressive little run recently: They drew the Basque derby against Real Sociedad at Anoeta, beat Valencia, came back from two down to draw at Depor and battered Sporting Gijon.The upturn in form is down in part to key starters returning and ousting the likes of Sabin Merino and Javi Eraso from the XI, who had both been in on a regular basis and simply aren't anywhere near the level of preferred options such as Raul Garcia, Inaki Williams and Benat.A centre-back platform of Aymeric Laporte and Xabier Etxeita is immense with both fit and in form, while MikelSan Jose provides aggression and protection in front. With Ander Iturraspe still to incorporate into the team and Iker Muniain a long-term casualty who can eventually return to boost the squad, Athletic have to be optimistic about this season.As long as the main core of players remain available, they should certainly be looking at the top eight as a minimum requirement.Part 2: New ManagersLas Palmas reacted first in mid-October when they fired Paco Herrera and replaced him with Quique Setien, who oversaw a 0-0 draw at home to Villarreal in his first match. He couldn't have had a much tougher start to life, being away to Real Madrid this time out, so a clean sheet and a point in the first fixture was crucial.Now, Levante have followed suit; Rubi is in as boss until the end of the season after Lucas Alcaraz was sacked after Sunday's defeat to Real Sociedad.Two coincidences: Both departed bosses had primarily lined up in a 5-3-2 system this season, flooding the defensive half of the pitch in an attempt to frustrate opponents before countering at pace, and both were sacked immediately after 4-0 defeats.Who could be next' Nuno continues to be the target of some fans' ire at Valencia and has to overcome Levante's new boss on Saturday, while David Moyes at Real Sociedad could be in for a whole world of trouble if Celta bounce back from defeat to Real Madrid with a big performance.Whatever you do, Nuno and Moysie, don't lose 4-0.Player to Watch: Kiko Casilla (RMA)The best goalkeeper in La Liga this season, by some distance, has been Real Madrid's Keylor Navas. Indeed, there are not many in better form than he is in any domestic league around Europe.Bad news for the Liga leaders, then, thatKeylorpicked up a slight muscle strain. There are doubts about his participation on Saturday, with Rafa Benitez noting on Spanish radio (viaMarca)that he had "total confidence" in his replacement, Kiko Casilla, who has yet to make his competitive debut for Real.Casilla won admirers for his performances at Espanyol last season and even made his Spain national team debut, but he is error prone and has had no game time since the pre-season programme ended. All eyes will be on him if he lines up in goal against Las Palmas.Game of the Weekend: Villarreal vs. SevillaBoth Villarreal and Sevilla started the season in surprising fashion: Villarreal were top a few weeks in as their new-look attack immediately jelled, while Sevilla struggled to create chances, didn't integrate many new faces at all into their XI and started extremely poorly.Things have balanced out somewhat for both now, with Sevilla in particular looking menacing again after three wins in their last four. Villarreal, on the other hand, haven't won in threeand with Barcelona up next for them, they'll want to take points from this home fixture to ensure the run isn't prolonged.The pace and passing of Villarreal always makes for watchable games, but Sevilla have the midfield guile and power, as well as several attackers in goalscoring form, to create a lot of problems for the home side at El Madrigal. It should be a spectacular 90 minutes.Predictions and TipsBoth teams to score in Villarreal vs. Sevillaand Espanyol vs. Granada.Home wins: Real Madrid, Valencia, Eibar and Sporting.Away wins: Atletico Madrid, Sevilla and Barcelona.Follow @karlmatchett
Click here to read full news..

All Channels Nigerian Dailies: Punch  |  Vanguard   |  The Nation  |  Thisday  |  Daily Sun  |  Guardian  |  Daily Times  |  Daily Trust  |  Daily Independent  |   The Herald  |  Tribune  |  Leadership  |  National Mirror  |  BusinessDay  |  New Telegraph  |  Peoples Daily  |  Blueprint  |  Nigerian Pilot  |  Sahara Reporters  |  Premium Times  |  The Cable  |  PM News  |  APO Africa Newsroom

Categories Today: World  |  Sports  |  Technology  |  Entertainment  |  Business  |  Politics  |  Columns  |  All Headlines Today

Entertainment (Local): Linda Ikeji  |  Bella Naija  |  Tori  |  Pulse  |  The NET  |  DailyPost  |  Information Nigeria  |  Gistlover  |  Lailas Blog  |  Miss Petite  |  Olufamous  |  Stella Dimoko Korkus Blog  |  Ynaija  |  All Entertainment News Today

Entertainment (World): TMZ  |  Daily Mail  |  Huffington Post

Sports: Goal  |  African Football  |  Bleacher Report  |  FTBpro  |  Kickoff  |  All Sports Headlines Today

Business & Finance: Nairametrics  |  Nigerian Tenders  |  Business Insider  |  Forbes  |  Entrepreneur  |  The Economist  |  BusinessTech  |  Financial Watch  |  BusinessDay  |  All Business News Headlines Today

Technology (Local): Techpoint  |  TechMoran  |  TechCity  |  Innovation Village  |  IT News Africa  |  Technology Times  |  Technext  |  Techcabal  |  All Technology News Headlines Today

Technology (World): Techcrunch  |  Techmeme  |  Slashdot  |  Wired  |  Hackers News  |  Engadget  |  Pocket Lint  |  The Verge

International Networks:   |  CNN  |  BBC  |  Al Jazeera  |  Yahoo

Forum:   |  Nairaland  |  Naij

Other Links: Home   |  Nigerian Jobs