The race for the Spanish league title has already become something of a one-horse race, so well are Barcelona playing -and so far are they ahead.

Lionel Messi and company are 11 points ahead of Valencia, 12 ahead of Real Madrid and Sevilla, and 13 ahead of Atletico Madrid and Deportivo Coruna.

Therefore, the talk in Spain now about how many points Barca will finish with, whether they will beat Real Madrid's 1990 record of 107 goals - and who will finish second.

In order to hang on to second place, Valencia need to beat local rivals Villarreal at home on Saturday.

Valencia are in fairly good form, though they were fortunate to escape from Santander on Wednesday with a 1-1 cup draw.

Villarreal, in contrast, are in an alarming slump,and have crashed down from second to seventh in recent weeks. In addition, they will be without suspended captain Marcos Senna in Mestalla.

"For me, this will be a six-point game," said Villarreal striker Nihat Kahveci on Wednesday.

"They are second, and therefore we need a victory there if we don't want to lose sight of the best teams."

Little Nihat is finally in good shape again, after being injured playing for Turkey at Euro 2008.

But Valencia's David Silva is also fit again, which could be bad news for Villarreal, who have won on their last two visits to Mestalla.

Also on Saturday, sixth-place Deportivo are at home to fourth-placed Sevilla, who beat the Galicians 2-1 in the cup on Wednesday.

Sunday will see Atletico Madrid at home to Athletic Bilbao, whilst twin giants Barcelona and Real Madrid have simple away games in theory - but maybe not in practice.

Barca will be in freezing Pamplona against Osasuna, bottom of the table but always hard to handle at home.

"We really need to get something positive out of Sunday's game," said Osasuna coach Jose Antonio Camacho on Wednesday.

Real, for their part, will be away to second-from-bottom Mallorca, embroiled in a massive internal crisis.

Defeat on Sunday could mean the end of the road for embattled Mallorca coach Gregorio Manzano.

Sunday's other games are as follows: Espanyol-Almeria, Sporting Gijon-Valladolid, Racing Santander-Recreativo Huelva, Numancia-Getafe and Betis-Malaga.