Barcelona, Spain (SportsNetwork.com) - Atletico Madrid, Barcelona and Real Madrid enter the weekend separated by only one point, and all three sides will face tough tasks that could lead to dropped points.
Barcelona will take the field first on Saturday when the club hosts Valencia, which has had its struggles so far this season and sits in 10th place.
Los Che has taken just two points from its last three games, but the club still boasts quality players in Jonas, Ever Banega and Sofiane Feghouli who could cause problems for the hosts.
However, history is not on Valencia's side with the club having failed to beat Barcelona in any of the last 14 meetings between the two sides in all competitions.
Atletico enters the weekend level on 54 points with Barca at the top of the league and the team welcomes sixth-place Real Sociedad to the Vicente Calderon on Sunday.
The home side has won 17 of its first 21 games in league play, but Sociedad comes into the contest in good form as well with just one defeat in its last 10 matches.
Sociedad is also coming off of a 4-0 thrashing of Elche on Monday that saw in- form striker Antoine Griezmann tally two goals to give him 12 on the campaign, good for third most in the league.
Real Madrid trails the leaders by one point and Carlo Ancelotti's men face probably the toughest test of the three teams with an away match against Athletic Bilbao at the San Mames.
Bilbao resides only one spot below Madrid in fourth place and the club has yet to lose at the San Mames this season, including a 1-0 win over Barcelona which is the lone defeat sustained by the Catalans this season in league play.
Madrid has won its last five games in league play, with the past four coming by shutout, while Bilbao has won its last three fixtures by a combined score of 15-4.
On Friday, Celta Vigo moved six points clear of the relegation places with a 2-1 victory at Granada as Augusto Fernandez scored the winning goal in the 88th minute.
Second-from-the-bottom Rayo Vallecano attempts to revive its survival hopes with a win at Levante, Valladolid is two points from safety and travels to Getafe, Sevilla invades Malaga, Elche and Almeria square off in a battle of bottom-half sides, last-place Real Betis hosts Espanyol and Villarreal closes out the weekend on Monday at home against Osasuna.
